Nothing is coincidence
by Vampiczech
Summary: The story takes place after events that happened in stories Defying logic & Defying logic - The consequences :: Garrus Vakarian tries to live normal life with Tali'Zorah but continuous repeating nightmares don't give him sleep and it seems these nightmares aren't regular. Garrus realizes he must help his friend from past in order to find peace.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE: Garrus Vakarian's POV

You know, sometimes you stop on your way through life and ask yourself what purpose we have when we are brought to this world. We are born, we live and we have to fight. Fight, but for what? For liberty? Our lives are all having the same conclusion, death. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, healthy or terminally ill, strong or weak, the death is inevitable. However, this absolute truth, this postulate, axiom, dogma, whatever you want to call it, was proven wrong five years ago.

I've met a human. His name was Daniel Husk. The things that made him so special were many. Since the first time I had the opportunity to work with him, he was mostly troublemaker. He was autistic, very good at math, but there was more to it. He wasn't from our century but woke up in it after cryo-stasis. Soon we all discovered what was so important about him that we all had to watch him. He was the one who convinced me about the false statement that death is inevitable.

Back in his previous life, he worked on project called Soma. It was meant to scan somebody's brain and transfer a mind into synthetic body. I was skeptic but Daniel made it. He bypassed death and transferred himself into a Geth body, but why? The reason was that Daniel had a bad luck in personal life and so there was nobody he could love. He found our Geth companion, Legion, who understood Daniel and was capable of feeling emotions so Daniel decided to do this for him. It was coincidence, but Daniel as a human experienced ordeal that issued him coma and so the Geth Daniel was activated.

In the meantime, in the great war between Reapers and the union of races in Milky way, I managed to find myself somebody as well. Tali'Zorah became my girlfriend and we were able to bring our turian son Denos to the world. Our commander Adrian Shepard and Liara T'Soni managed to bring Mira, their asari daughter to world as well. We all thought that Daniel would never wake up from his coma, but we kept him on ship anyway because you never know. Although we did so, we had to abandon him after an unexpected attack of batarian terrorists on our ship.

Former Normandy SR2 went down in flames and so did Daniel who was in coma. After that, we thought that Daniel is lost for good. There was nothing we could do to save him, but actually we made a grave mistake. Daniel survived and unfortunately, his hatred to take revenge over Shepard and us was growing. He became emperor of batarian nation and with his biotic powers he recreated Cerberus and became Wraith. He hired Grunt, Jack, Jacob, Samara and Kasumi to his team. They trusted him blindly because he did everything so it looked like he was doing good to the galaxy.

Actually he did. The crime in galaxy lowered to a minimum. All thanks to Daniel and his people. Of course, it was too perfect and Shepard sensed something wasn't right. Cerberus and the Alliance started war in the Attican traverse and we had to stop this so it was time to reveal Wraith's identity which was Daniel. I saw Daniel, the new one. He was merciless, hateful, he wanted to destroy the entire galaxy by turning every star into a black hole and causing chaos by that. _We cannot save him_ I thought. I was thinking there was no way on saving the man that Daniel became.

I was wrong again. Shepard had a plan. Thane Krios came with David Archer and the funny fact was that another autist with savant syndrome managed to change Daniel to what he used to be. With math questions, Daniel realized what he was, he overcame his hatred and stopped himself from destroying the galaxy. He was back, we were all happy for that guy, but once we escaped the Cerberus base with batarians invading it, we knew that this Daniel needed help. We wouldn't be able to take care of man like Daniel.

He was stressed, anxious, depressed and so Shepard decided to put Daniel to a better place, to a mental hospital for therapies. He was given great doctor, Herald Tate who was turian but no ordinary doctor. Doctor Tate was doing his best to help Daniel from falling into darkness. We were visiting Daniel, but with each visit he was getting only worse until Legion and Shepard visited him alone and both of them were shouted by Daniel to get lost. Doctor Tate wrote report which clearly showed that we lost Daniel, our friend. He didn't remember us.

It was our fault. We didn't have enough time to visit him because there were assignments to do. One day, the ' _black day_ ' I would say came and Shepard received call from doctor Tate who announced him about Daniel's suicide. None of us wanted to believe that Daniel voluntarily killed himself. We visited the hospital and talked to doctor Tate who obviously took Daniel's demise hard. Once doctor Tate read out a paragraph from Daniel's book, I knew that our friend was at the bottom and there was no other solution for him. The funeral was set and we continued living our lives.

Now, after three years, Shepard couldn't handle the guilt he felt for letting Daniel die. We all tried to convince him that he wasn't responsible, that there was no other way. Shepard understood, but he was never able to do any missions again because everything reminded him of Daniel. Normandy's crew officially stopped existing and we all dissolved, parting into smaller groups. Joker, our main pilot, along with Steve Cortez, our shuttle pilot, continued in their service with the Alliance Navy. Shepard and Liara went to Thessia to live together. I and Tali, we remained on the Citadel.

Tali had it really hard because she was practically the only quarian who survived the massacre before the great war. Her protégé Veetor vanished, we didn't know where. Well, everybody would think that Daniel never existed, but he left his copy, the Geth version of him. That Daniel along with Legion returned to a Geth fleet. My story starts at this moment…

NOTHING IS COINCIDENCE

Garrus Vakarian finds himself naked lying on the ground in pitch black space with nothing around or under him. The turian is woken up by an echo. He opens his eyes, trying to process where he is. He sees nothing but black and looks around. Nothing seems to show him where to go so he tries only to walk around. It was stupid idea that came to his mind but he walked around for a while and suddenly he could hear the echo becoming more clear. Garrus realized he had to follow the sound in order to get out.

He was following it. The echo was getting sharper and it changed to quick sobbing. Vakarian continued towards the source of sound. As he was approaching, another sounds joined the sobbing. These sounds were voices. However, aggressive voices. They sounded like somebody was screaming through microphone and so it was buzzier. With approaching distance, both, the voices and the sobbing were intensifying, adding on volume. Garrus tried to recognize what those voices screamed. He heard: _I'M SICK! I'M SO SICK! I'M SO FUCKED UP! KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF!_

"What the hell…?" Garrus said quietly, confused. He went further. The sounds started to feel very uncomfortable. As they were getting louder, the turian felt the buzz crawling inside his brain. He had to cover his ears and kneel down. Garrus closed his eyes, hoping he could ignore it. Something was wrong. Even Garrus had closed eyes and covered ears, he heard the sounds still the same way as without doing all the stuff. They weren't getting quieter but still loud.

"What is this place?! What are those sounds?! This is insane!" Garrus thought, also thinking he was going crazy. He wanted the sounds to stop so badly but no matter how badly he wanted them to stop, they didn't stop and they kept torturing the turian. Garrus was stuck at one place and needed to move. He had to find the source of these sounds and destroy them.

"I must keep moving!" he thought. He raised himself from the knees and spotted something in the distance. The turian noticed somebody in the far blackness and it was strange. There was nothing, pure nothingness around and suddenly he could see a man in the far blackness even there was no light. He continued to walk, sounds were rushing through his skull. Garrus was breathing, his steps were becoming heavy. Trying to stay focused, the turian was closer to the man and he could recognize things.

A wheelchair, uniform, the figure itself that was turned with back to Garrus. It was sitting to the table, doing something and Garrus realized that this man was source of the sounds. He was approaching him, more and more he was recognizing the figure. Finally, he managed to stand behind the man, the sounds stopped and Garrus placed his talon on the man's shoulder.

"D-Daniel…?" Garrus said and the man he called Daniel froze in what he was doing. He was writing a book. The pen was laid next to the book and Garrus observed closely how will Daniel react. Something was happening. Garrus' heartbeat was accelerating and his body was becoming sweaty.

"Garrus…" Daniel said and his head jerked around, revealing face covered in blood, murderous look and then everything brightened as Garrus immediately opened his eyes wide. He was sweaty, lying in his bed, breathing quickly.

"It was just a nightmare…" Garrus thought, realizing it was another day. He rolled on his back and noticed that his beloved Tali was not there. The clock next to his bed showed 7 AM, "I should be getting ready for my shift or executor Pallin will feed Nathak with me…" Garrus said and got up. He headed to take a shower since he was all sweaty from the nightmare. Soon he was clean and dressed up in his C-Sec uniform with his eye visor on. Garrus thought he would look for something in the kitchen so he wouldn't be hungry during his shift.

"What is this…?" Garrus asked himself as he noticed a sticky note on the fridge: _I had to take Denos to the doctor because It looks like he has some infection. I hope it's nothing serious. I should be back by the time you return and I made you something sweet so you don't starve during your shift. Love, Tali._ Garrus read and smiled. He looked at the clock again, "7:45… shit! I got only fifteen minutes to get to the C-Sec! No time for breakfast!" Garrus thought and left their apartment quickly, almost forgetting to check whether it was locked.

He arrived at the C-Sec late and avoided executor Pallin as he rushed to get to his workplace before he would notice anything. Garrus sat right at his table and switched on the console while he tried to catch breath.

"Being late?" Another turian asked as he came inside.

"Chellick… just a little bit."

"I saw you only a few times running, Garrus. Never thought it would be so soon!" Chellick chuckled.

"I cannot afford losing this job, Chellick."

"It's alright, Garrus. I know there's much pressure at you right now. Losing job as a crewmember on Normandy, having family that you need to keep fed…"

"And I'm not sleeping well, forgot to mention that. I wish I could get one peaceful night but I am getting nightmares constantly!"

"You seem to take your responsibilities seriously. I was thinking that you should find some time for yourself as well."

"Heh, are you suggesting something?"

"We didn't have a drink together for a long time, colleague. You think we could go?"

"Hmm… two male turians together at bar getting drunk. How weird can it look?" Garrus chuckled, "I'll call Tali. She's expecting me to be at home once I'm done here so I must ask."

"Do what you have to, Garrus. I'll be at my office if you change your mind." Chellick said.

"Yeah, yeah. Now I need to start processing these reports before-"

"Garrus Vakarian to my office." Executor Pallin said through com-link.

"Shit… here go problems…" Garrus shook his head and stood up from his table.

"Good luck there, Vakarian."

"Thanks…" Garrus said and left to the office of his superior, executor Pallin. He was afraid of what Pallin had to tell him so important that he had to call him. One thing was sure, Garrus didn't feel well. He was hungry and tired. He wished Pallin never called him to his office so he could complete his assignment and all the paperwork that was actually piling on his table and in his console while he was going to talk to his boss. Pallin wasn't entirely C-Sec leader. Since C-Sec consisted of many races, each race had its own representative as their leader. For humans it was captain Bailey.

Garrus was asking himself: _Am I gonna be fired? What does he want from me?_


	2. Chapter 2

Garrus was standing in front of the office of his superior, executor Pallin. He took a deep breath before knocking but once he did, Pallin invited him to come in. Garrus opened the door with button and stood in the doorway.

"Executor Pallin? You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Garrus. Have a seat." Pallin pointed to a chair and Garrus sat in opposite to Pallin.

"Is there some problem?"

"Not a big deal, Garrus, but I had feeling to talk about it. You came late to your work and it's been second time this month. What can you tell me about that?" Pallin said, resting his elbows on the table and hands put together.

"I… ah, I hoped you wouldn't notice, executor. I'm sorry for coming late to work, but I guess it was just a lot on me for past days."

"For example?"

"Building family, relationship, leaving my friend Adrian Shepard, also I don't get much sleep right now…"

"I see… I will be honest, Garrus. I have noticed how you changed from past. I remember how you were enthusiastic seven years ago. You were one of our best officers."

"I suppose I was just rookie who wanted to show himself up."

"Maybe. What I try to point out is that you are not what you used to be. I wonder why didn't you accept to become general of turian fleet when there was the option?"

"I was honored when my name was brought up as candidate to this position. However, after few years spent with Shepard I knew I didn't want to play solitaire, if you know what I mean."

"I do, Garrus. You know, I was never in favor of admiring spectres, but I understand Shepard proved me wrong. How big influence did he have in your life?"

"Shepard is a strange human. Ever since I met him, we both could think that there would be no Shepard without Vakarian. We worked on assignments, fought pirates, terrorists… all kinds of evil. I was happy to be on board of Normandy. I was doing something that filled me and what I considered to be right. I had friends there but everything has to end, right?"

"What happened that it ended?"

"I met another human, Daniel Husk. We didn't know much about him, but he joined us on board of Normandy and soon we became friends. But none of us could see inside head of that human. He helped us with assignments, destroyed most of the crime in Terminus systems and the price for him was big."

"Daniel Husk… yes, I've heard about that man and what happened. Can you give me detailed information? It seems he was dear to you."

"Well, Daniel was autistic. Mathematically talented. He was extremely sensitive, anxious, he was never outgoing person. He appeared to be only introvert that needed friends but like I said, we didn't see inside his head. What was happening to him… I cannot describe, but I know that he wasn't able to fight anymore and so ended it painlessly." Garrus explained and Pallin shook his head.

"I'm sorry that I have to say that but humans are stupid, Garrus. Suicide is not solution, that's what I was telling you all when you were entering the basic training in C-Sec academy." Pallin said and took deep breath, "At least I can understand your serious and calm behavior. I remember you were impatient turian, now I know the reason that's behind your change."

"After Daniel's death I stopped being the young turian that didn't take anything seriously. I realized some things, how psychology works and what horrors can organic meet and fight within his mind. We all with Shepard continued completing missions for the Alliance and for the Council, but one day Shepard came and said ' _I quit_ '. Our crew stopped existing but I understand Shepard's decision though."

"You do?" Pallin asked and Garrus nodded.

"Everything around Normandy and completing assignments was reminding us of Daniel. Although we wanted to go on with our lives, Daniel's memory was left within Normandy and it was keeping us depressed, sad and mostly Shepard who felt guilt for letting Daniel to commit suicide. Quitting solved this. Shepard was the glue, the man who was keeping us together. With him quitting, there was no reason to stay on Normandy. That's why I rejected the position of general of turian fleet. No Shepard, no enthusiasm."

"I can understand that, Garrus. I know you need this job for your family to be happy so I can assure you I am not going to fire you in any time soon."

"Thank you, executor Pallin." Garrus bowed his head.

"Yes, yes. Now go back to your work and complete the paperwork. I have a lot of my work too." Pallin said and Garrus left his office with no other words. In the meantime, on home world of asari civilization Thessia, Adrian Shepard and Liara T'Soni were completing their work at archives. Shepard as former commander retired and didn't find any other job so he thought he could help his wife Liara at job of Shadow Broker. He was completing one file and put it inside folders to their respective section.

"Thank you for helping me, Shepard." Liara said while putting information in her console.

"You don't need to thank me, Liara. You know I'll do it for you with pleasure." Shepard smiled as he carried another folder from Liara's table.

"Honestly, I appreciate your help with all those files, but don't you think you should find a job here on Thessia?"

"And what should I do? The asari are mainly diplomats. Do I look like diplomat?"

"Well, if you put on your suit and tie you may succeed." Liara chuckled, "After all, you had impressive arguments on how to negotiate with other people as commander." Liara said and then heard as Shepard let the folders drop on the floor, "Shepard?" Liara looked at his husband who was standing immobilized.

"Liara… you know I try my best to forget…"

"I'm sorry, Shepard. I didn't mean to bring back bad memories."

"No, Liara. I know you didn't mean it… but please, try to avoid this chapter of my life." Shepard said and Liara stood from her chair.

"Shepard, it's not your fault what that Daniel-" Liara said and approached Shepard as he turned around.

"Yes, Liara, it is! It is my fault! If I wasn't so obsessed with assignments and visited Daniel more frequently…" Shepard said and with loud sigh he covered his face with hand. Liara walked closer to Shepard, giving him hug as Shepard hugged her back.

"I miss him too, Shepard. He didn't deserve to die."

"He suffered, Liara! He suffered and I didn't see it! I ran away when Legion wanted to stay with him! Only because I was afraid of his reactions! He was calling for help, Liara! And I left him behind!"

"I know, Shepard. You have think this way: we still have Daniel as Geth. We didn't lose him entirely."

"Perhaps you are right, Liara." Shepard said and a faint smile was drawn on his face, "Maybe we could go and have some dinner outside?"

"I would love that. Do you think Mira will be fine with us being away so long?"

"Liara, sometimes I wonder how is it possible your head will not blow up. You have to carry massive amount of information as a Shadow Broker, yet you keep thinking if Mira is safe. You should relax too."

"I know it's just… Sheva is a good babysitter but you never know what can go wrong."

"We're on Thessia, the war is over, crime is decreased to a minimum, batarian terrorists were pushed to the edge of Milky way. Let's not dwell on the past."

"Alright then. Let's go, I'm starving!" Liara smiled at Shepard who offered his arm so Liara could hold him. Shepard and Liara decided to have calm evening while eating out romantic dinner at some restaurant on Thessia. Few hours later, Garrus finished his shift at C-Sec and decided to accept Chellick's offer and they visited some bar on the Citadel. Now these two turians were sitting at the bar, and Chellick noticed something was wrong with Garrus.

"Do you think Pallin is ever gonna fire you?" Chellick asked, taking a sip of his liquor, "Hey, Garrus?" He looked to his left side and saw the turian with eye visor sleeping on the table, "Wake up, Garrus!" Chellick poked him at his shoulder as Garrus abruptly raised himself on the chair.

"I didn't sleep!" Garrus said and looked at Chellick, "What? I listened to you, really!" he leaned his head inside his hand propping himself against the table. Garrus drank another shot of the alcohol and thought that Chellick would return back to his topic. That didn't happen and Chellick gave Garrus suspicious and curious look.

"Come on, Garrus. You're obviously not right. Aren't you ill? You barely stay awake. Maybe it's burn out." Chellick said and Garrus rubbed his eyes with one talon.

"It's not burn out or exhaustion… I just can't sleep well…"

"Yeah you've mentioned these nightmares before. Maybe you want to tell me more."

"Nah. I don't think it'll make any sense."

"Dreams and nightmares don't make sense so tell me."

"Fine then. I still have the same nightmare all over again. I wake up in darkness, hear awful buzzy sounds and voices shouting at me 'I'm sick! I'm fucked!' and similar things… then when I find the source, I get so freaked out that I wake up all sweaty and tired."

"You were right. It does sound strange. And it is repeating?"

"Yeah. The worst is, that the source of those sounds is my former comrade Daniel Husk…" Garrus said and Chellick's eyebrows went up.

"Daniel Husk you say? I made his file here on the Citadel."

"Yeah? How was he when you saw him for the first time?"

"Hard to tell. Couldn't read him well. Silent, shy, creeped from all the aliens around since he came from past?" Chellick chuckled, "Quiet but nice guy. He was with Shepard. His speech was precise but pretty synthetic if you know what I mean. He didn't use many phrases. You said you worked with him and now he's in your nightmares?"

"Pretty much. You know, he suffered from anxieties and later on was diagnosed for psychosis. He rather killed himself. Since then everything went to shit and once Shepard quitted with the military I…" Garrus said and his omni-tool notified him about incoming message. It was from Tali. The subject was ' _Where are you? I'm getting worried!_ ' and Garrus sensed problem, "Shit! I forgot to tell her!" he said and stood from the bar.

"Garrus?"

"I must go now! Sorry, Chellick! It was good to chat with you but gotta go now!" Garrus said, left some credits at the bar and ran out. He totally forgot to tell Tali that he would be with Chellick and knew quarians' temper so he expected a lot of shouting once he would come home.


	3. Chapter 3

Somewhere behind Perseus Veil on a large vessel, a Geth civilization lived and one particular unit worked at console. It was Legion, a Geth platform specially designed to negotiate with organics. This Geth contained feelings and with him, there was another Geth having the same emotions – Daniel Husk. Legion decided to interrupt his work at the console and searched for Daniel across the ship. He saw Daniel standing in front of once used device. The Geth watched it with deep impression, his eye sensor almost seemed to be in trance and frozen in time.

Legion approached Daniel from behind and placed his three-fingered hand on Daniel's shoulder which seemed to bring the other Geth back to reality. He looked at Legion whose faceplates were adjusted in sign of smile.

"Legion?"

"Have you been replaying memories?" Legion asked and Daniel came closer to the device, placing his synthetic palm on the glass of pod.

"It feels like just a day passed since I used this device to transfer my mind into this body. Yet I feel being Geth is so natural."

"You adapted. And I think you did the right choice otherwise there would be nothing else left today."

"You're talking about my human self… I wish I knew what went through my head before pulling the trigger."

"It sounds like you forgot how you felt as human."

"I did, Legion. After few years in this body, it's hard to understand feelings of human when practically all you feel can be processed through receptors… and emotions in our case. As a Geth, I disembodied myself from my body which may also had some effect on the mentality. I don't feel anxious anymore." Geth Daniel said and turned back towards Legion, "Was there something you needed to tell me?"

"I've received a message from the Citadel. They want me to become councilor for the Geth people."

"Really? Legion, that is amazing!"

"Yes, and I want you to come and escort me."

"How could I say no? I'll follow you anywhere!" Daniel said with cheer in his voice and Legion offered him hug with spreading his arms. Daniel hugged Legion as much as he could and then they were getting ready to leave the ship with few other Geth. At the same time on the Citadel, Garrus ran through hallways of flats to get in flat of his and Tali's.

"Shit! She's gonna be mad at me! Shit, shit, shit!" Garrus thought and got to his door. He opened the door with keycard and they shifted open. Garrus was able to enter and hoped for Tali being nice to him, "Tali? I'm back home!" he said and quarian voice responded immediately.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Tali went in their antechamber, shouting at Garrus.

"I know you were worried, I was with Chellick and somehow forgot to tell you… sorry, Tali."

"That was irresponsible! I was expecting you to come home as planned! The fact that there is artificial light doesn't mean that you cannot tell me you'll be late! And you…" Tali looked at Garrus eyes, noticing his eye pupils wider, "You were drinking…"

"Like I said, I was with Chellick… Tali? Can't we continue the talk with dinner?"

"If you don't mind I already had my dinner but yours is on the table and it's cold." Tali said, turning with her back to Garrus and was about to go to the other part of their flat. Garrus grabbed her arm.

"Tali, sweetheart, don't be mad at me, please. I won't leave you waiting anymore, I promise…" Garrus held her arm, hoping for the best answer from her. Tali took a deep breath.

"Ok, Garrus. I'll heat it up for you."

"Thank you, darling. I'll just dress myself in something more comfortable and be right back to you!" Garrus said and Tali went to heat Garrus' meal up. Even she was mad at him, she loved him and yet she noticed his obvious fatigue. Garrus had circles under eyes and Tali knew something wasn't right with him so she was feeling sorry for him and wanted to talk to him about it. Garrus arrived back at the kitchen, sitting by the table as Tali served the meal in front of him. At the same time, she gave Garrus caress down his plates on head like mothers do to their children.

Tali took a seat in front of Garrus just so she could accompany him because she didn't want to feel like shrew just commanding his husband, not now when she could see Garrus' being so physically tired. She was watching how Garrus was eating the meal with taste, almost like he didn't eat all the day which of course he didn't.

"So… Garrus, I saw you didn't take a bit of my pie today. Weren't you hungry all the day?" Tali asked and Garrus interrupted his eating.

"Uh, yeah. I read the note you left in the morning but I was so freaking late that I didn't have time for any breakfast."

"You were late? Was your superior mad?"

"Only a little… but thanks to hunger I am really glad to have warm meal." Garrus explained and Tali left slight chuckle, now going ahead to ask the turian the question.

"Garrus you don't look fine… do you wish to sleep? I can take care of Denos. It seems he has only minor temperature so there shouldn't be much work with him."

"I'm ok Tali… just a little exhausted…"

"It doesn't look like normal exhaustion, Garrus. You are not telling me something…"

"Really, don't bother yourself with this. It's just temporary, I can assure you."

"I… I just feel bad that I cannot help you with raising money so you don't have to work overtime."

"I think you do your part while taking care of Denos, sweetheart." Garrus said, placing his talon on Tali's hand, "Don't worry so much about me." Garrus smiled at her in tired way. Tali smiled as well behind her mask.

"Garrus, I think I should tell you something."

"Yes, Tali?"

"I've contacted Shepard and Liara and invited them to stay here so we can think of good old times and spend some time together, you know… since Shepard isn't part of the military anymore." Tali explained and Garrus smiled.

"Oh, Shepard will come? That's great!" he cheered and yawned.

"Alright, Garrus. You need rest!" Tali chuckled.

"Yeah… I'll take shower and be in bed soon." Garrus said and kissed Tali's mask. Then he left to the shower, letting the hot water wash all the fatigue he had. Garrus took his time while taking the shower. It took him fifteen minutes before he got out but he felt better, still tired but better. Tali was already in the bed, waiting for her Vakarian. The turian just casually lied in the bed naked and covered himself with the blanket. His quarian partner rested her arm on Garrus' chest, rubbing it, trying to show him what to do.

"Garrus? I want you to…"

"No, Tali… I need to sleep." Garrus said dryly and Tali looked at his face from under of his arm, even under mask, Garrus could see that begging look of hers for some one-to-one action. Garrus submitted and sighed, "Fine… but I'm too tired… Think you can handle it yourself?"

"I'm not asking for anything else, honey." Tali giggled and got under the blanket above the turian who was tired and he only let Tali to do what she wanted to do. Their child was sleeping, they were alone and both needed to relieve the tension. It was perfect time. Tali rested with the rest of her soft body on Garrus' rough skin while her cavity was sliding and teasing the turian's blue slightly damp slippery copulation organ. Garrus was so tired that he didn't even notice himself getting inside his wife.

However, Garrus enjoyed it and closed his eyes, feeling totally relaxed. Hormones of happiness and love filled his body as he felt how Tali lovingly let him penetrate her. Garrus wanted to sleep so badly but knew he had to watch for himself and his climax not to impregnate Tali again. Tali's silent whispers and sighs aroused him the way he felt the climax coming faster and faster. Garrus warned Tali who stopped and finished the turian with her hand, making him climax all over the blanket.

Immediately after that, Garrus was completely exhausted, mentally and physically and fell asleep in short time span.

"Good night, my sweet Vakarian." Tali said softly while covering Garrus with the blanket. If only her wish worked and Garrus had a good night. Meanwhile on Thessia, Shepard and Liara arrived at their home. They were standing at the mess hall and talked to their babysitter Sheva.

"Are you sure you don't mind us being away so long?" Shepard asked.

"Oh not at all, Mr. Shepard. Mira is angel! We both had a lot of fun and now she is sleeping."

"We've sent you the credits for today plus some extra credits because we were away for so long." Liara explained while using her omni-tool.

"You're kind to me, Mrs. T'Soni. Believe me I enjoy this work!"

"Well, perhaps you might have a few days off from now, Sheva."

"How come, Mr. Shepard? You are leaving?"

"Yes. We received invitation from old friends of ours to spend few days on the Citadel with them. We are taking Mira with us so there will be no work for you." Shepard explained.

"Oh goddess! You are so lucky you will visit the Citadel. I always wished to go there."

"We can take you with us, Sheva. Just inform your mother." Shepard said, smiling.

"It's nice offer from you, Mr. Shepard but my mother already has some plans in case I have no work… now I'm sorry but it's late and I need to get home. Good bye!" Sheva said and left house of Shepard and Liara.

"Good bye, Sheva!" Shepard said and the door closed. Now he and Liara were together alone in the mess hall.

"What are we going to do now, Liara? Mira is sleeping and we are alone."

"Well, we are fed already so we could just have shower and then maybe… we could merge in the bed."

"Sounds good to me." Shepard said, both of them staring at each other's eyes.

"Don't forget that we have to pack the important stuff early tomorrow."

"No problem. I'll wake up earlier."

"Then we're all set. Let's not waste time and go to take shower!" Liara chuckled and along with Shepard went to have shower. After the shower, both of them went in their bedroom, lying on the bed and enjoyed evening full of physical and mental merging.

The next morning, Shepard and Liara woke up early so they could pack their stuff and prepare themselves with Mira for departure to the spaceport of Thessia.


	4. Chapter 4

Garrus Vakarian opened his eyes, waking up in darkness with echo. This place seemed familiar to him but for some reason he couldn't remember where he saw it. He found himself naked as he stood up and heard silent whispers of buzzy voices and sounds around him.

"I must find the source…" The turian thought. He walked forwards, not sure where but he followed the sounds and assumed the right direction only when the sounds were intensifying. As their volume was increasing, the buzzing sound was becoming so unbearable that Garrus had to kneel to the ground, all sweaty, covering his ears. Not even that helped, the sounds had the same volume and Garrus could register all sounds that were mixing in his ears. With his closed eyes he could clearly hear ' _I'M SICK! I'M SO SICK! I'M SO FUCKED UP! KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF!'_

In addition to that, he heard loud sobbing as if somebody needed help. Everything that was happening Garrus could predict with few seconds before they happened. He stood up, walking forwards, the sounds were penetrating his skull. He wished them to stop but at the same time fought them while getting to the source. The turian saw a man in a wheelchair and doing something at a table. It was strange. No light around and Garrus could see clearly somebody sitting in a wheelchair at the distance.

As he was approaching the man, Garrus sensed how the buzz was tearing his ears but once he was right behind the man, the sounds stopped.

"What? It stopped… but this man… the wheelchair… Daniel?" Garrus thought and reached his talon at shoulder of Daniel sitting with back to him. His heartbeat was increasing, he could hear his own heart beating and Garrus predicted something bad would happen, "This heartbeat… he's gonna-" Garrus said and once he touched the shoulder, Daniel jerked his head around, facing Garrus and showing him blood covered face.

"GARRUS!" He shouted, Garrus immediately opened his eyes and saw pillow next to him. He was all covered in sweat, breathed long and thoroughly examined the pillow he slept on.

"It was… it was that nightmare again…" Garrus whispered. He propped himself with elbow and looked at the clock, "3 AM…" he said and sat on the bed, "I guess it has no meaning to go back and sleep… not with those nightmares…"

"Garrus?" Tali said as she was half-asleep, "What's going on?"

"It's ok, Tali… I cannot sleep, that's all." Garrus said, if only he couldn't simply sleep but he wasn't allowed to, "I'll have something eat, Tali…" he said and dressed himself in some underwear so he wouldn't be naked. Once he was in the kitchen, he took a glass and filled it with water. Garrus sat by the table, letting the lamp to illuminate it. He thought that a glass of water would make him feel better, however, he didn't even drink. He just blankly stared at the glass, still hearing the buzzing sounds at his head, repeating those words all over again.

"Make it stop… I want to sleep. I want to sleep so much but I can't… stop these sounds!" Garrus thought. He was feeling incoming headache and held his forehead, "Am I going crazy? What is happening with me? What is with those dreams? Why is there Daniel? I'll go insane if I don't get sleep… maybe I won't make it through another day of work! No… focus, Garrus… you survived suicidal mission, war against the Reapers and you let yourself be concerned with dreams? Think… straight! Focus!"

Garrus thought about all the questions and tried to stay himself which caused he didn't register the time change. Tali entered the kitchen, seeing Garrus sitting by the table.

"Garrus?" Tali said and Garrus was snapped out of his thoughts. He stared at Tali with his palely gray face, even brighter than usual, not even his blue markings were visible. His sky blue eyes were reddish with veins in them. All of it and dark circles under Garrus' eyes made Tali gasp, "Oh my god… have you been sitting here all the time?"

"Uh…? What is the time?" Garrus asked.

"It's 6 in the morning… Keelah, Garrus you look horrible! Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yes I… no, I mean, I need to get ready to work, Tali!" Garrus said quickly with shaky voice, standing from the table. He went right away to dress himself at the C-Sec uniform. From the way how fast Garrus was speaking, Tali could sense tension, fatigue, and she could see Garrus was trying to hide problem. Tali didn't want to let it be like that so she entered the bathroom with Garrus in there, already dressed up in his uniform.

"Garrus, I can see you are not telling me something. You are probably ill and should and see the doctor! Here, let me just…" Tali walked closer to the turian to place her hand on his forehead but Garrus stopped her.

"N-no! Tali I… don't bother yourself with that. I just have a bad dreams and can't sleep well, that's all…"

"But you are having these bad dreams last few weeks! Garrus you have serious problem! If you don't stop playing hero and will not tell me what is happening, you won't end up well! Don't try to keep me calm because your body tells the truth even you don't! Something is wrong and you are not telling me what it is…" Tali crossed her arms. Garrus took a deep breath, looking at himself at the mirror.

"You are right…" Garrus started, "I am doing overtime so we can have more credits. Also I do some additional work so these nightmares are mostly about my failure…" Garrus lied and looked at Tali.

"That's it? You are overworked? Why don't you ask your superior for a day off?"

"Wish I could. I'll be fine Tali, I just need to absorb this." Garrus said and walked by her from the bathroom, "I'll be home soon today, I promise. Love you, Tali." He smiled and left the flat. Although Garrus tried to fool Tali with his false explanation, Tali sensed this lie behind Garrus' words and knew there was something more to this, not only regular burnout. Garrus arrived at C-Sec without delay this time. He was there at 7 AM so he had time before others came. He got into his office and started early with his work and processing the reports on his table.

Executor Pallin arrived shortly after Garrus. He expected to be alone because it was early in the morning but once he passed by Garrus' office, he spotted the turian working at the console.

"Garrus Vakarian?" Pallin said entering his office, Garrus immediately stood up and saluted, "What are you doing here so early?" Pallin asked and Garrus sat back down.

"I thought of what you told me yesterday, executor. I woke up earlier so I could finish the reports in time and it wouldn't cumulate for next days…" Garrus explained and Pallin narrowed his eyes.

"That is… admirable and responsible, Garrus. Maybe I underestimated you yesterday… Good job! If you continue you might be promoted." Pallin said and left the office with faint smile but once he was out of Garrus' sight he had to shake his head at how Garrus looked. Garrus worked for three hours in row, no pause, no food and no drink. For some reason, he didn't feel a need to sleep and had enough energy to complete his quota. However, his work was interrupted with announcement coming from radio link.

"Every turian C-Sec officer to the mess hall." Executor Pallin announced and Garrus didn't know what to think. In a short while, all turian C-Sec officers were standing in a square and executor Pallin explained the situation.

"The Citadel security was asked to take part in upcoming event. The Council will be appointing a new councilor who will join actual five councilors. Now, despite the paradox, the new councilor will represent the Geth. As you may or may not know, Geth aren't individuals, they are all mobile platforms. However, this Geth is different. He worked with former commander Shepard – his name is Legion." Pallin said and Garrus widened his eyes, thinking back to the old times when he and Legion worked together with Shepard on missions.

"Our duty as the C-Sec is to prevent anybody trying to assassinate him or his group which will be passing through the way. Basically we will create the path border between the Geth and the citizens. We'll stay in two rows facing each other while the Geth with the new councilor will be coming through. Don't underestimate the situation. The Citadel isn't as safe as it appears. Anybody can attempt to do something so keep your eyes peeled. That is all. The ship is already docked to the Citadel and we must be ready! Go to your location and wait for the Geth to pass."

Executor Pallin explained and the turian C-Sec agents were heading out of the C-Sec academy. Along with them, other C-Sec races as salarians and humans created a path between them as the civilians were bordered with C-Sec officers. The Geth had a free way towards the Citadel tower. Legion was walking in the front, behind him Daniel and behind Daniel the rest which was made of five other Geth.

"You're gonna see your old pal, right?" Chellick poked Garrus.

"We were just in battle together, nothing more."

"You are a little pale, Garrus. You sure you did a right thing to be here today?"

"Just let me do my work, Chellick! They're coming!" Garrus said and saw the Geth coming through. Only Garrus had his eye visor which served Legion and Daniel to recognize him easily from other turians. Legion adjusted his faceplates in the way as if he was smiling at Garrus, showing him that he recognized him. Daniel beckoned at him and Garrus did the same.

"They seem to know you well!" Chellick chuckled. Garrus shook his head and looked around the people if somebody wasn't planning to attack. His eyes caught something unexpected. A human, very familiar one standing between aliens. He knew this human very well, it was Daniel Husk, made of meat and he was alive, standing there. Garrus' eyes widened, "Garrus? What's with you?" Chellick waved his hand in front of Garrus' face but Garrus didn't react. He was sweating and he was shaking. Shortly after that, Garrus was weak in the knees and fainted.

Garrus collapsed on the pavement, "Garrus?! Garrus! Somebody, call the medics!" Chellick called around as other C-Sec agents made circle around the collapsed turian. The Geth noticed this, along with Legion and Geth Daniel who stopped and looked back. Legion wished to help but he and Daniel agreed that there was the appointment to do. Later that day, Garrus woke up in hospital, all sweaty and breathing as he had another nightmare.

"NO!" Garrus shouted and spotted some people around his bed. He could see Tali, Geth Daniel and Executor Pallin in there. He looked at all of them, then around the room so he realized he was at the hospital. In result of that he facepalmed himself, "Please tell me I have a bad dream again…"

"You wish you had, Garrus! I am seriously mad at you!" Tali told him off.

"Sweetheart I…"

"Don't start with your sweetheart!"

"Tali, I think it's not the right time for that now." Geth Daniel said.

"Daniel… why are you here? What happened?" Garrus asked and executor Pallin cleared his throat.

"I'd like to answer that. According to what the doctor said, you experienced shock followed by temporary neural inactivity. You collapsed during your service with protecting the Geth from assassins. Daniel here wished to see you because he and Legion saw what happened. However, Legion couldn't come since he has a lot to do in the Council now."

"Is that so? Tali I… I am sorry…"

"A little bit late for that! Executor Pallin contacted me right after that happened! He noticed your state when he saw you in the morning! That's just you! You don't want to admit you have problem that needs to be solved and you play hero!" Tali said and stood from her chair, "There is somebody else who wants to see you so I will make space and go to relax!" Tali said and opened the door, "Come. He is awake…" she gestured as Liara and Shepard entered the room so she could leave.

"Liara, Shepard…" Garrus opened his eye wide, seeing Shepard with Liara sitting next to him.

"It's good to see you, Garrus!" Liara started

"You look horrible, Garrus, but you were never looking better. Not even when that missile hit you in the face!" Shepard said and Garrus got into laugh. Liara and Shepard, along with Pallin and Geth Daniel remained with Garrus at the room. They were talking about various topics while Tali was outside, relaxing and calming herself down.


	5. Chapter 5

Executor Pallin, Liara, Shepard and Geth Daniel accompanied Garrus once he woke up after his ordeal from collapse caused by his fatigue and possibly the human Daniel. They were all having conversation about Garrus and some other topics.

"Alright, Garrus. I came here to make sure you are going to be ok. C-Sec wouldn't be good with you dead." Executor Pallin smiled and stood up.

"Executor? I guess you want me to come tomorrow back to work." Garrus asked.

"No, Garrus. I already spoke with Tali and we both agreed that it would be adequate if you had a few days free. Take your time, rest and come back once you have enough energy. There are a lot of C-Sec officers that can take care of your reports. Adrian Shepard, Liara T'Soni, Daniel Husk, good bye." Executor Pallin said and left the room. Others were watching him leaving and then concentrated on Garrus.

"Well, Garrus, we were going to visit you but didn't expect it to be at the hospital." Shepard chuckled.

"Tali wasn't happy at all. You make her worried." Liara added.

"Yeah, I know. I played hero but she warned me about doing it. Guess who didn't listen…"

"I know it was always hard to convince you not to do something… I was glad when you didn't kill Sidonis."

"You better not remind me of that, Shepard. Enough about me, I don't want to talk about my problems. So, Daniel, Legion is councilor now?" Garrus asked and Daniel explained Garrus and Liara with Shepard how things changed for Geth. Liara and Shepard said Garrus good bye for now and they left the room. Only Geth Daniel and Garrus were alone. Garrus and Geth Daniel looked at each other, Garrus' look became serious.

"I guess you will go as well, Daniel?" Garrus asked.

"Actually I wanted to investigate this. Me and Legion, we both were really concerned what happened to you in that moment you collapsed. As a friend, former colleague and comrade on the battle field, I'd like if you told me more." Daniel said and Garrus took a deep breath.

"Alright… it's not easy for me to explain so please try not to ask me for details. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep recently. It wouldn't be nothing serious if I suffered from Insomnia or something like that. However, I am not Insomniac and this is not regular problem. I keep having nightmares, to be concrete, one nightmare and it keeps repeating."

"Repeating nightmare?"

"Yes… it's a nightmare where I wake up in a darkness, naked and then I hear the worst sounds you could have ever heard. Buzzing voices, screams, sobbing, everything echoing and tearing my skull apart. I always tell myself that I need to find source of this and as I try to do so, it always gets so horrible because the sounds are getting louder and louder and I cannot stand it. All I understand from sounds is 'I'm sick, I'm so sick, I'm so fucked up, kill yourself…' and I can't see why is that."

"Neither do I. What else?"

"The funniest part. Once I manage to find the source, the sounds fade away. The source is a human, bound to the wheelchair. He writes book. It's you, Daniel."

"Me?" Daniel asked and Garrus nodded.

"I always reach my hand to your shoulder but once I touch you, I get freaked as you turn your head around and I see face covered in blood, shouting my name… that is the moment when I wake up in my bed, in the middle of night." Garrus held his head and Daniel shook his eye sensor.

"I can't understand why would you get these nightmares, Garrus. And I can't understand why should I be in those nightmares… especially my former self before suicide."

"I don't know either."

"And so you collapsed because of this. You lack energy?"

"That's not everything, Dan. When you, Legion and other Geth already passed by us, I saw something which may have been caused by lack of energy. Maybe I was hallucinating or something but… I hope I was hallucinating…"

"What did you see?"

"Between the other people on the Citadel who watched you with Geth, there was you. Daniel Husk, human and he was alive. That is when I had that black out."

"What?! My former self committed suicide three years ago! That must have been hallucination!" Daniel said while standing up.

"I'm sorry if I put you into confusion, Dan."

"I… I think you need plenty of rest, Garrus…" Daniel said, leaving towards the door, "Rest, Garrus. You need it, friend…" he added and left. Garrus was alone now, his hospital room was completely silent. For once, Garrus didn't hear whispers. Such a strange silence in his room was almost uncomfortable for Vakarian who was starting to get used to hearing sounds from his nightmares. In the meantime, Shepard and Liara moved temporarily to apartment of Garrus' and Tali.

Garrus remained at the hospital for one day on monitoring and the other morning doctors let him go home. Once he arrived home, Tali rushed at him and squeezed him within her hug. Garrus explained that doctor said he should spend more time outside in his free time. In order to do so, he went to the wards to buy something for Tali to make dinner.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" The salarian vendor asked Garrus who observed the offer of meat in the windowed freezer.

"Have you got something specific to sell me?"

"Well, have a look. I can offer exclusive meat from various creatures all over the Milky way for a low cost. Thresher maw from Tuchanka, super cool Nathak right from Noveria or Varren from Feros." Salarian showed his range of goods and Garrus laughed shortly as he connected the 'super cool' Nathak from Noveria which is permanently cold.

"I think good old Varren meat will do." Garrus said and handed the salarian some credits, "I don't want to poison my friend Shepard or Liara with something I don't know."

"Wait a second… Shepard, Liara? Then you must be Garrus Vakarian! Ha! I knew you were familiar but I wasn't sure if it was you actually! Why aren't you with military?"

"Things have changed so Shepard and I moved on…"

"I see. Well, enjoy your dinner!" the vendor said and Garrus left the shop. Right after that, he received call to his omni-tool.

"Tali?"

"Have you bought what I asked you for, Garrus?"

"Yeah, I have everything. Now I'm on my way home."

"Great! I also had some idea in mind." Tali said and Garrus' attention was caught by a human walking out of one restaurant.

"Yeah? What idea?"

"Well since we have Denos and Mira together we could visit the playground. What do you think, Garrus?" Tali asked but Garrus' eyes were concentrated on the human. He recognized Daniel and thought if he wasn't hallucinating, "Garrus? Are you there?"

"Sounds great. I'll be back home soon." Garrus said, switching off his omni-tool. The curiosity didn't let him so he followed Daniel as he was walking through the Presidium. It was definitely Daniel. He was dressed in the Alliance uniform he used to wear and he didn't notice Garrus following him. After five minutes of walking in the crowd, Daniel turned to an alley with a dead end. He stopped there and Garrus stopped at the alley as well.

"I was expecting you would follow me." Daniel said, turning to face Garrus, "We were friends and comrades after all. Right, Garrus?" Daniel started.

"Enough of that. I don't buy this shit! You cannot be Daniel Husk. He killed himself three years ago! You are either hallucination or just somebody who impersonates Daniel! First nightmares where you are on the wheelchair, then this so I guess I became insane!"

"I don't know what do you mean by nightmares but I understand you don't want to trust me. I am supposed to be dead, we both know that. However, I am not and you already know it is wrong."

"Yeah… you are wrong."

"If you don't trust me so much, why do you hold me here? I thought you wanted to tell me something more than just that."

"I want to know what is happening to me! Why do I keep having nightmares that aren't letting me sleep?! Why are you in those nightmares?!" Garrus asked and Daniel sighed.

"I wish I knew. Maybe you feel guilty because you couldn't save me? Come on, Shepard's feeling way worse than you. Garrus, don't cry for me, if I killed myself I knew there was no other way…"

"Then why the fuck you are here now?! Are you a ghost? My conscience that can tell me how I fucked up?!" Garrus asked and Daniel went closer to him, placing hand on his shoulder.

"Something is wrong, Garrus. I will need you all to help me and put things in order. If we don't act… the whole space-time continuum will fall apart." Daniel said and Garrus widened his eyes.

"What…?"

"I cannot say more… not until you are all assembled. Take this." Daniel pulled out a paper and gave it to Garrus who opened it and started to read.

"Why should we go there? Daniel?" Garrus noticed Daniel wasn't next to him anymore. He wanted to believe that the person he was talking to was just creation of his mind but he was grasping the paper in his talon. And the paper was proof big enough that he knew something was really wrong. Garrus wished to forget and so he went back to his apartment where Shepard and others awaited him. They all settled down to the TV with their kids.

"Let's just watch the intergalactic news…" Shepard suggested. Garrus switched to a news channel and they all watched it. First it appeared that there was nothing crucial to talk about, but after the asari in TV spoke about Legion becoming the councilor, she got serious and switched to Tuchanka.

" _Now to the events on krogan home world Tuchanka. A strange events occurred on this planet lately and scientists cannot find the reason of these happenings so they rather shake their head at the situation. Tuchanka is experiencing local electric storms with tornadoes which are not typical climatic phenomenon. We have been informed by Urdnot Wrex, leader of krogans on Tuchanka that this is the first time their dry planet experienced something like this. Storms, and especially electric ones are not common there and scientists came only with theory that these tornadoes are actually space-time vortex funnels._ " The asari finished and Garrus ignored what Shepard was saying to it.

"This is no hallucination. It is happening…" Garrus thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Garrus with others was sitting on the sofa and while Shepard was talking to Liara and Tali. The turian watched the paper he was given by Daniel. Suddenly Liara placed hand on Garrus' forearm.

"Garrus? What is it? What are you holding?" Liara pointed at the paper and Garrus showed it to her. Liara started reading and smiled widely as she saw what it was about, "Shepard! I think I have an idea what we can do tomorrow! Look!" Liara said and handed the paper to Shepard who read it with Tali.

"Hmm. It's gonna be a lecture about space-time travels?" Shepard asked.

"No! Not like lecture. It will be a demonstration of new space-time travel device and it shouldn't take too long for us to return back home! Mira and Denos shouldn't do anything before are back!" Liara said and Shepard thought it would be good to make a poll.

"Alright so… who wants to see this?" Shepard said and Liara immediately raised her hand up. Garrus knew Daniel wanted him to go there with others so he raised his hand as well.

"I think it could be interesting…" Tali said, raising her hand as well and so Shepard nodded.

"Fine, majority won this so tomorrow we will go and see what science has to offer!" And so things were set once Shepard said that. They all went to the children's playground where Denos and Mira could play with other children, Shepard and others could talk to each other, think of the good old times and so. In the meantime, back in the Citadel tower, Legion was acclimatizing to his room as councilor. Geth Daniel was helping Legion to unpack the necessary electronics he carried from the Geth ship so he could contact other Geth through secured channel.

Suddenly, when Legion observed the Citadel from a window of the tower, he noticed how Daniel was silent and decided to start the talk first.

"Did something happen at your visit of Garrus Vakarian, Daniel?" Legion asked. It took a while before Daniel found a good answer. He knew how it bothered him to know that his former self would be actually alive like it never committed suicide.

"No… Garrus is doing well but he needs plenty of rest. Some things what he says don't make sense."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing… It's not important…" Daniel said and Legion turned to face him.

"Garrus obviously said something which made you upset. Daniel, you know you can't hide this from me. When I see he said something that bothers you, I can just connect myself to you and I will see everything…" Legion said, going to Daniel.

"No! Legion, don't touch me!" Daniel said, pushing Legion away from him, "Fine, maybe he said something but it's nothing serious… really, don't worry about me." Daniel said and Legion rested hands aside his body.

"Alright, Daniel. I don't want to do something what would make you feel uncomfortable, but I hope it won't affect your abilities as my assistant now when I am councilor."

"It won't, I promise…"

"Good. Except for that I am councilor, I am your partner, you can tell me everything."

"I will."

"I mean it! It hurts me to see you are hiding something that bothers you internally… don't do the same mistake as your former self did. You know how it ended…"

"Legion! Can we move to another topic for fucks sake?!" Daniel said annoyed.

"I… sure. Tomorrow, the Council has to visit a demonstration of new technology invented by local scientists. It may be crucial step in evolution of science as well as the special theory of relativity was. Can I count on you?"

"Of course, Legion. I won't let you down."

"Perfect. Now, Daniel, as councilor I have one request."

"What is it?" Daniel asked and Legion spread out his arms.

"I need to know that we haven't changed, that our relation still works… don't worry, I won't connect myself to you if you don't want to." Legion said and his faceplates signalized smile as well as Daniel's. The other Geth looked around if they were alone, then proceeded to mutual hug. Everybody on the Citadel went asleep by the end of the day, Shepard's group wasn't an exception. Unfortunately for Garrus who had the nightmare again, it wasn't peaceful sleep. The next day, majority of the intelligence on the Citadel assembled inside the auditorium of local university.

The Council took seats above the public seats in secured zone behind the glass window. The councilors noticed Shepard and his other people taking seats in the back row, right under the glass window. In a short while, the salarian scientist entered the auditorium and his assistants brought him table with a watch.

"I'm very pleased to see that many of you came to see demonstration of the newest invention coming from academy of science. Before we go right to the demonstration of this invention, we should talk about the very concept first. At the beginning of 20. century on Earth, mathematician and physician Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity in 1905. This theory was important and it gave us all a new perspective on how to see things. Your basic knowledge about this theory is that it explains how approaching of the speed of light changes everything. There are those basic two axioms. The first one is that the speed of light is the limit speed. The second one says that speed of light is constant in every inertial system, that means systems without acceleration. From these are implying consequences but I'll try to choose the most important ones. One is relativistic mass which basically means that when you approach the speed of light, your mass is increasing to the infinity. Then relativity of simultaneity, very interesting consequence. It says that one event is relative from point of view of two different observers. Length contraction as another result is explained that when you travel at speed of light, the environment around extends. But then, finally time dilation. This is something directly connected to our research. When you approach the speed of light, then except for the length contraction and increasing mass, you can notice the time around you slowing down. We've all heard the twin paradox which says that one twin travelled in high speed and it was younger than a twin that remained at home. Here comes the idea of our research. When you approach the speed of light and time gets slower, you know that when you are at speed of light, the time is frozen. Logically you have to travel back in time if you pass this speed. This is our project. We managed to create a device that can travel in time and not only into the past. We calibrated it, adjusted the principle and we can travel into future! This technology is based on Reapers' legacy – the mass relays since they allow warships to travel FTL. You may have noticed that my assistants brought these watch. It's the device itself. Somebody will say that this defies the causality, a very important statement but it is a major invention. Now time for the demonstration itself…"

The salarian scientist explained and put on his watch, ready to demonstrate the time travel. Suddenly, something strange happened. At the left side of the auditorium, there was a rift forming in the air and lightning was sparking around.

"Something is wrong! It seems that something is happening with the space-time continuum!" The lecturing scientist said as quarian escaped the rift with gun in his hand. It was Veetor'Nara.

"Veetor?!" Tali wondered.

"The Council! Where is the Council?!" Veetor said quickly and nervously.

"Calm down… calm down, quarian… holster your gun…" the scientist walked backwards.

"Shepard!" Liara said.

"I won't ask again! Where's the damn Council?! Show me or they will have to scrape your brain off the walls!" Veetor said, having absolute black out. The salarian pointed to the glass with councilors and Veetor pointed his gun.

"Shepard!" Garrus shouted. Suddenly one human raised from the one seat. It was human Daniel.

"Veetor! Come here, you son of a fuck!" Daniel shouted and shot his biotic shockwave at Veetor who just avoided it.

"Oh no… not you!" Veetor exclaimed. He got up on his feet and started running for the portal.

"Come back! Fight me like man you coward!" Daniel jumped across the seats to the front of the auditorium and kept shooting biotic powers at Veetor who already disappeared in the portal, "Fuck! Not again!" Daniel breathed heavily after such a rush, then he looked at the people sitting, up at the Council and Shepard's group.

"Daniel…? He's alive…?" Shepard thought while he couldn't believe his eyes. At that moment, Legion looked behind at the Geth Daniel.

"So… now I understand what bothered you, Daniel." Legion said and Geth Daniel looked to the ground. It took few minutes before the civilians left the auditorium with salarian scientist. The Council and Shepard's group went down to Daniel. When Daniel finally turned to face Shepard, he got punched at face by Tali.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" Daniel asked.

"I was just trying if you were real… damn yeah my fist definitely hurts for real!" Tali said, holding her fist. Legion beckoned to other councilors that they could leave. Now it was him, Geth Daniel, human Daniel, Shepard, Liara, Tali and Garrus.

"Whatever. It's good you listened to me, Garrus and brought others here."

"Get to the point, Daniel." Garrus said and Daniel activated his omni-tool.

"Our reality is one of many realities that go in parallel next to each other. In fact, there is infinite number of universes similar to this one, however, they are different only thanks to the time. The difference is infinitesimally small. That means there are many universes working in future and many universes in past. I wanted you all to come here because you have to know that this space-time continuum has problem. It is collapsing, creating chaos, vortexes and only Veetor is responsible for this."

"How come Veetor can travel in time?! He was missing!" Tali said.

"Veetor was hiding all the time. Once he managed to steal one of these devices, he travelled back in time right before I killed myself with gun. He captured me, imprisoned me and drained me of my biotic powers for his personal use. You can see I am standing on my feet, I can walk. That's because once Veetor didn't need me, I managed to find something that helped me to create synthetic connection in my spinal cord and so I started to travel back in time, stopping Veetor."

"What is Veetor after?" Legion asked.

"He wants to gather as much firepower as he can get, then go back in time before Reapers destroyed the Migrant fleet and save the quarians. He planned to do it with brute force if diplomacy didn't work. That's why he used me, but now he doesn't have me so he has problem. And problem is Veetor himself too. Because he comes from different universe, he doesn't belong to this one, neither do I of course. Where I and Veetor are, there are going to be space-time rifts creating vortex and chaos around…"

"I wish I could help you, Daniel. But this seems too complicated and yet there are our children that we cannot leave." Shepard explained.

"Shepard, I am from future. I know what are the results and in future, all of you are dead. You, Legion, your children… everyone. Veetor is brute and he's crazy, we all know that. Because he was alone for a long time, there was nobody to control him and he became sadistic, insane and he kills everyone who's in his way…"

"What shall we do then?" Garrus asked.

"Go back to the moment Veetor stopped me from committing suicide and let me kill myself." Daniel said and everybody in the auditorium became silent.


	7. Chapter 7

Daniel from future just presented his intention to Shepard and others who were standing with him in the auditorium. He told them that only way how to stop chaos was to let himself commit suicide.

"Kill yourself…? What sense does it have that you die?! It doesn't help anything!" Tali said angrily.

"It does, Tali. If you find Veetor before he finds me, I will kill myself and the sequence of events will return back into normal. Veetor will be defenseless, he will have no biotic power to use because I will be dead."

"And why did you come to this reality? Why to us? We cannot travel back in time! You are practically dead by now, Daniel." Liara explained.

"I knew Veetor was going to be here. He chose the reality with time of demonstrating the time-travel device. It was the moment when you and the Council was here. Like I said, he needs firepower, and what is better than whole Council space standing behind you, right Shepard?" Daniel looked at Shepard.

"Good, but that doesn't explain why we should help you. We don't know how to travel back in time." Tali added.

"You don't need to. As long as I have my own device, you can travel with me." Daniel explained.

"How bad can it be? If he saves quarians, then there's nothing to worry about." The Geth Daniel said.

"I would expect my copy to think of what would happen. You don't trust me? Here's your proof…" Daniel said and opened portal to a Citadel in future. Everybody could see that the Presidium, embassies and wards were in flames. Veetor was inside a warship and he was laughing insanely at the Citadel burning. Daniel closed the portal soon.

"I cannot believe… Veetor wouldn't…" Tali tried to find words in her astonishment.

"What, Tali? In my reality by that time Veetor is no longer innocent and shy quarian! He's insane and vengeful! He saved quarians, however, he didn't need me anymore! He threw me away because he had enough firepower and biotic power that he could deal with Council and the entire fleet if he wanted to. He's unstoppable and we have to stop him!" Daniel finished, a moment of silence passed until he started talking again, "So, are you willing to help me? To save your future? Your children?"

When everyone looked outside the window of the auditorium, they saw vortexes forming around the Citadel.

"Time is getting short, Shepard. Veetor must be stopped…" Daniel said and Shepard looked at him, giving him nod.

"I'm coming. Who is with me?" Shepard looked at others.

"I'm with you. No Shepard without Vakarian, remember?" Garrus smiled.

"You can count with my support as well, Shepard." Tali added.

"You will need biotics as well." Liara said.

"We will travel to stop Veetor who is defenseless. I doubt he'll have anything special to attack…" Daniel explained and looked at Legion, "What about you, Legion?"

"I try to process through this dilemma. I wish I could help you, believe me I do, but as councilor, there are many things I have to accomplish."

"You will all return back here once this is over. If you are worried about your duties, don't worry because nothing will change for you. You will be back before the time you saw me."

"Then I assume I could join you as well." Legion added.

"I'm joining you too. I must see how things happened three years ago." The Geth Daniel said. The human Daniel nodded.

"There's nothing else to be said. Time to act…" Daniel said, opening the portal into past. He pointed at his friends who entered the portal and then entered the portal himself, closing it behind. Daniel, Shepard and others appeared in past, on the Citadel and their goal was to prevent Veetor from stopping Daniel committing suicide. It was hard to believe that they needed to allow their friend to die because of greater cause.

"Here we are, Presidium back in 2186." Daniel said, turning back to his friends who followed him, "We should be in time before Veetor arrived at the mental hospital. By this time, I am still alive…"

"Daniel, I have one question." Liara said, "Isn't it risky to show yourself to your former self from this time?"

"Yes. Condition of safe time-travel is to maintain that you don't come across your twin from past or future. It could destabilize the space-time continuum."

"So how are we going to do it without you?" Garrus asked.

"That's the point. You will do it without me. You don't need me and I believe you know what to do."

"What do you want us to do with Veetor? Is it necessary to go for extreme solutions? He's the last remaining quarian along with me!" Tali asked.

"Do with him what you want, just don't let him take me. Let's go…" Daniel was about to make step when Garrus grabbed his arm, "What?!" Daniel jerked himself around to face Garrus.

"Daniel, I can't do that! Not unless you answer me! Why do you think of suicide as if it was the only solution?" Garrus asked, wanting to know the reason. The human took a deep breath, holding his mouth while thinking. Then he decided to speak.

"Listen… I don't care what you will do. I am not going to be there when you encounter Veetor, but what you must do to preserve your future is to take Veetor down because he is threat. Jump there, take the gun away from me, ground me, whatever you want if you want to stop me from the suicide. But before you decide, ask yourself… if somebody close to you had cancer and he would suffer on the berth in hospital, what would you do? Disconnect him from the life support and spare him of the pain? Or let him live in pain?"

"Those are totally different concepts! You cannot just compare your situation to cancer!" Garrus said.

"I don't expect you to understand, Garrus. Your head is full of battles and guns so you cannot simply co-" Daniel explained when he got punched at face from Garrus in the middle of the Presidium.

"Garrus!" The Geth Daniel shouted and pulled the turian from Daniel, "What's wrong with you?!"

"He's tired…" Tali explained as the human Daniel tried to wipe off a nosebleed.

"Yes, I am tired. I am having nightmare that doesn't let me sleep. I am tired because you are in this nightmare, Daniel! Don't ever tell me that I don't understand! This nightmare repeats for a reason and I can see that you need help. You don't want suicide to solve your problem, admit it!" Garrus growled silently.

"What do you expect me to say, Garrus? I cannot see inside your head, and cannot see your dream! If you are so convinced that you and your friends can help a messed guy like me, do what you want… now we have to stop Veetor. That is our primary goal." Daniel explained and others followed him to the mental hospital. However, after Garrus' speech, all of them questioned Daniel's intention and thought if he was right. They were ready to face Veetor, but letting their friend kill himself voluntarily when they will be all there? That didn't seem right.

Finally, the group was at the plaza in front of the mental hospital with Daniel at their lead.

"The windows are all sealed? During the day?" Legion asked.

"Yes. Sealing windows helps with simulation of night effect that contributes to patients' ability to sleep. This is the only solution to it with all the artificial light on the Citadel." Daniel explained.

"Watch out!" Shepard shouted and jumped at Daniel saving him from getting hit by biotic powers. Others avoided the attack as well. Daniel shook his head a little and with others looked to the source of the attack. They saw Veetor standing at the entrance to the hospital.

"No… I cannot let you do it! I cannot let you stop me! No, no, no!" Veetor walked out of the shadows, nervously speaking. Tali raised herself on her feet as well as others did and went a little further.

"Veetor… you weren't like this before. You know what you do is not right!"

"Tali'Zorah… I wish you could understand! Our family, friends, everyone is dead! We both are the last remaining quarians! I have to do this! For good of our people! We can save them!" Veetor explained, "I'm… I'm sorry… I cannot let you through!" he shouted.

"Veetor, please…" Tali pleaded.

"He won't listen, Tali." Daniel said and looked at his friends, "Look, I will handle this Veetor, you must go inside that building and stop Veetor from past! Do you understand?" Daniel asked and everyone nodded.

"Let's get in, everyone!" Shepard ordered and Veetor prepared his attack.

"No! I won't let you- AAAH!" Veetor shouted as he was slammed against the wall with biotics of Daniel.

"Run! I'll take care of him!" Daniel explained and the battle between them started. Shepard and his friends ran inside the building as Daniel with Veetor fought together. Once Shepard's people entered the hospital, it was pitch blackness. They ran up to the floor where Daniel should be. They slowed down once they saw a feint blue shimmer in the hallway around corner.

"Are those… biotics…?" Liara asked silently as Shepard with others stepped silently on the floor. Shepard gestured at others to stay silent as they approached the source of light. Finally, they could see a figure bound to the wheelchair having a glowing biotic orb above itself. It was Daniel and he was holding a gun.

"That's Daniel…" Garrus whispered. Sudden footsteps coming from staircase made them separate to two groups and hide around corners. All of them were ready for Veetor coming to get Daniel himself. Footsteps were getting louder as the quarian stepped on the floor, looking at the blue shimmer, not noticing Shepard and his people. As a clang of Legion's foot sounded behind Veetor, he looked behind to see the Geth but Shepard was already having his arm constrained around Veetor's neck.

"End of the game, friend!" Shepard whispered as Veetor tried to get Shepard's arm off his neck. The quarian could feel how he was being choked and that fainting was coming at him. Soon Veetor stopped resisting, eased his struggles and fainted.

"You were a little bit rough, Shepard…" Tali said silently.

"We are done here. Come, I don't want to see this." Shepard said as they started moving towards the stairs. They stopped as fast as they wanted to leave once they heard how their mentally ill friend bound to the wheelchair sobbed. They listened to what he said.

"I… I cannot continue. Too many things… to handle. Too much stress, loneliness… doctor Tate, my friends… I am sorry." Daniel said, Garrus started to feel how tears generated within his own eyes.

"Garrus?" Liara asked.

"This is not right…" Garrus whispered and then he heard Daniel saying words he was recognizing too well.

"I'm sick… I'm so sick! I'm so fucked up!" Garrus' eyes widened and Daniel continued in talking to himself, "Just… kill yourself! Kill yourself!" he motivated himself and pressed the gun at his forehead. At that moment Garrus knew he had to act. He couldn't allow this to happen. He was given an opportunity to make things right so he used it. The turian rushed out of the staircase at Daniel and pushed him off the wheelchair. The gun slid all the way to the other side of the floor once Daniel fell off the wheelchair with Garrus.

Garrus turned Daniel on the ground the way he faced him. The biotic orb was illuminating them both.


	8. Chapter 8

The mentally and physically ill human, Daniel Husk, was grounded on the floor. A massive body of the turian Garrus Vakarian, his friend was making sure Daniel wouldn't move away or jerk himself. The human was frightened, shocked, startled, surprised to see the face of this turian above his own. However, Daniel was diagnosed for psychosis, his mental state didn't allow him to recognize his friend on sight.

"Who… who are you…?" Daniel asked hoarsely as the turian held his throat.

"Stop… Daniel, stop this! Please! It's me, Garrus Vakarian! You must remember! You know me, Daniel!" the turian was hysterical, he heard the exact same words from his nightmares and it was big confirmation enough for him to understand that this was the signal. Garrus knew he had to save Daniel. The nightmares were warning, continuously reminding him that he could make things right and save his friend from committing suicide. He was staring at face of the sick human in despair, hoping some shard of memories was in there.

He knew Daniel wasn't gone. At his last minutes of life, he mentioned 'my friends' which meant that he knew about Shepard and others. Garrus didn't want to give up, not now when he was so close to save his old friend.

"Say something for fucks sake!" Garrus shouted at his face, hyperventilating the increasing adrenaline causing him hysterical state.

"Garrus!" Shepard shouted as his group ran to him. Tali approached Garrus, reaching his hand for him.

"Garrus, you should calm down." she said and touched him which caused Garrus shout in affect again.

"Shut up! Don't touch me! Can't you all see this?! What he said just before while matched to what I heard in my nightmares even I didn't hear it in past before! I must help Daniel! He wants help! We can't just put him in mental hospital when he depends on us! We cannot lose him!" Garrus said, taking loud and deep breath, speaking again, calmly "Shepard… we did a wrong thing in past. We must use the opportunity to redeem ourselves." He looked at eyes of the human on the ground, "Daniel… I'm here. We all are… talk to us, pal."

As Garrus said these words in calmed tone, Daniel's blank look changed. He finally managed to realize the situation and started blinking, being aware of his environment.

"Garrus?" Daniel looked at the turian's eyes, "Shepard… Legion… Tali… Liara… the other me…" he continued while looking at each other in the hallway around him. He looked back at Garrus and didn't hesitate to give him tight hug. The turian didn't expect that reaction but helped Daniel and hugged him back, "I was such a dick! I don't know what happened to me! Everything around me was clear and told me to end this with gun!" Daniel said and got into silent cry, "I'm sorry, friends! I didn't mean to cause so much trouble!"

"I'm here, Dan. We are here, no need to hide your feelings…" Garrus assured him. Garrus was very tired, he still needed plenty of sleep, but he knew he completed what nightmares wanted him to do. He smiled, he was happy to know Daniel was reacting properly to what others said. Shepard, Garrus and others helped Daniel to his wheelchair, followed by leaving the mental hospital. Shepard left a message for the personnel and leadership of the mental hospital about the event that happened.

The message contained information about how Daniel almost killed himself and that he was taken to a temporary custody of his friends who were on the Citadel for a while. Once Shepard and his crew reserved some apartment, they moved in and explained Daniel the situation. They explained him the results of space-time travel and how they came from future that was compromised by Veetor who was willing to kidnap Daniel and use his biotics for violent cause. Daniel just shook his head, thinking how unbelievable the story sounded.

"If what you say is true… what happened once I killed myself? Who was affected the most?"

"Everyone from the crew, Dan. Each one of us took your death bad. We even stopped with the military and went our ways because being on Normandy just kept us reminding of you. It was dangerous for our missions." Shepard explained.

"Of course, I was having nightmare, it was still the same but I knew it couldn't be coincidence so I tried to find out." Garrus added.

"I feel really bad for all the trouble, friends… What about doctor Tate? He is such a nice man, he treated me well in the hospital. How did he end?" Daniel asked and the Geth Daniel switched on his omni-tool.

"Doctor Herald Tate returned back on Palaven, the home world of turians. After your… mine death, he gave up on being therapist."

"What?! But he is irreplaceable! How could he stop with it?!" Daniel asked and his Geth version set up a footage from Palaven. There was sequence of videos from one of major cities on Palaven. One sequence was from a street. The Geth Daniel selected footage with turian homeless man lying on the pavement with almost nothing on himself. It was doctor Tate.

"Is he…?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. It's doctor Tate, or at least what he became." Liara said.

"But how is that possible?! I know doctor Tate! He is intelligent and successful doctor!"

"We've been talking to doctor Tate the day after you killed yourself. He could barely hold the cry back. He told us that it would be hard to cope with it. Also he said that he loved you as much as therapist can love his patient." Tali said.

"At the first point, it just appeared that doctor Tate needed to deal with this so he was drinking alcohol. But then he fell into depressions, returned his diploma, went back to Palaven, started taking drugs and that's where all his credits went. Simply said, patient committing suicide was a sign of failure as a therapist. Doctor Tate couldn't hold this and soon the life of poverty and drugs brought him painful death." Garrus finished and Daniel covered his face with both palms, then burying hands in his hair.

"What have I done… I caused so much pain to people." Daniel sobbed, "Poor doctor Tate… I'm idiot… what you said… about the love of therapist towards patient… I think doctor Tate went beyond that." Daniel explained, wiping out his tears.

"What do you mean?" Liara asked.

"From the first moment, I could sense that doctor Tate was working with passion, with love and his attitude was different from other turians… no offense, Garrus."

"None taken." Garrus assured him.

"Doctor Tate's sessions made me feel relaxed. It wasn't just a manner of fact that he was psychologist. Our sessions were making me feel that whenever I looked at his face, he wished to talk to me more often than he had in his timetable. His smile was warm, I sensed that doctor Tate had interest in knowing me better so sometimes I was able to tell him things I wouldn't normally tell anyone… yes, doctor Tate treated me nicely and I wished to be with him. Of course… I was losing my sanity and after finishing my book, everything was fucked…"

"So I understand you both were almost a couple, right?" Tali said with amusement as Daniel smiled.

"Well, we never said those three magic words to each other, but we didn't need to. It was just the way it was and we were happy when it was time of our session."

"Dan, listen. You are given another chance. You can start again. Go, follow your instincts, tell doctor Tate how you feel. We must return to our future but you can now change yours and remember, you are not alone." Garrus smiled at him and Daniel smiled back.

"Ok guys, we need to take a route back to 2189! Let's go!" Shepard said and all of them, except for Daniel in the wheelchair headed to the door. Daniel stopped smiling, he turned around to tell something to his friends.

"Guys?" Daniel started as everyone turned around, "Now that you know I am going to live, I will be in your future as a result of the change in sequence of events… I have one request that you could help me with…"

"What's the matter?" Shepard asked.

"I am not healthy and I won't. I spent too much time alone and my mind will always try to play tricks on me. Once in the future, find me and help me, please. Help me to fight my inner demons. I will be there, I promise…" Daniel said and all of his friends nodded.

"We will do what we can, Dan." Shepard said, beckoned to his group and they left Daniel alone in the apartment. Shepard's group was soon away from the past but Daniel knew there was thing he needed to do. He didn't want to stay alone. If Legion was with his Geth copy, then original Daniel had to find himself somebody who would be there for him and he already knew who. Daniel took a trip on his wheelchair through apartments and searched for address of Herald Tate, his therapist.

The asari receptionist pointed him at the right door so Daniel managed to get himself there through an elevator. He knew when doctor Tate was working and it was weekend so he had time to talk to him in private. Daniel knocked the door and it shifted with doctor Tate standing at it, looking down at his patient. He smiled at Daniel warmly and Daniel smiled back, being happy to be in front of his doctor.

"I was thinking about you, Daniel. Do you wish to talk?" Doctor Tate asked and Daniel nodded, "Well then, be my guest." he said calmly. Doctor helped Daniel to get him in his apartment and set him next to the bed. He sat in front of Daniel and both of them looked into each other's eyes, "So, tell me what's on your mind." Doctor Tate said and Daniel started explaining slowly what happened. About Shepard, about how he almost killed himself, about how doctor Tate would end in the future. Both of them tried to hold themselves from crying but both were still smiling.

"And I've realized I've done stupid thing, doctor. I want to say, thank you, for everything you did for me. You were interested in me and tried to help me, a lot… without you, I wouldn't get to this point. Now I can see clearly that you are the best what I could have asked for and I… ugh!" Daniel tried to push himself from the wheelchair so he could reach himself for his doctor. His paralyzed legs didn't allow it to him and almost fell over but he got caught under shoulders by his doctor. The sick human looked up at face of his doctor. They were merely smiling.

But then, doctor Tate pulled him up to his chest and started with moving his talon down Daniel's back. Daniel closed his eyes, resting his arms around doctor's massive back.

"You are also dear to me, Daniel. I wished I had more time to talk to you than we had in our schedule. What you told me about the future, it makes me sad because I know I would do it and because you mean a lot to me. You always did, even though I was losing you at the end, but now you are here, with me, and we can talk." Doctor Tate said and withdrawn from Daniel the way he could see his face, "When I look at you, I can see something that makes me want you here, now I don't need to hope, because you are here."

"Doctor Tate-"

"Call me Herald. We already went beyond our relation of patient and doctor. Now, it's just you and me, Dan. Tell me those words so I know I don't have false ideas." Herald said as he and Daniel connected their foreheads.

"I love you." Daniel said and Herald smiled even more.

"I love you too, Daniel, and I am happy to know that you are not just my patient anymore." Herald said and right after that, both of them were dragged into long, passionate kiss. In some moments, they were looking at each other but didn't let go of the other one. Daniel and Herald wished this moment to last forever. Herald had a question that needed to be answered as the human rested above him.

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"Do you wish something special to eat?"

"I'll eat anything. I'm starving!" the human chuckled as he lied above the turian who asked the question.


	9. Chapter 9

Back into 2189. Daniel from future returned Shepard and his group back at time of the demonstration of space-time travel. This time, no vortexes appeared. Everything went fine like nothing happened. Daniel from future wasn't present in the auditorium this time but on the other side, there was Daniel from past, the one who was saved from suicide. Things that changed in past didn't have much influence in the future. Even Daniel was saved, Shepard and his people found out what happened at hospital and how Daniel almost killed himself.

It was enough reason for Shepard to follow the original path of ending with the military. In result of that, Garrus remained with Tali, Shepard with Liara, the both Geth together and now even Daniel with his doctor. Garrus was finally able to sleep peacefully. After having so many troubles with nightmares, Garrus tried to compensate his deficit of sleep and it was obvious that Vakarian needed it. At one time it took him around 21 hours of continuous sleep. That appeared to be almost unhealthy, but nobody tried to find something bad behind it simply because Garrus needed it.

Tali with Shepard and Liara made sure the children wouldn't bother Garrus so he could rest peacefully and they kept the children off the room that belonged to Tali and Garrus. After such a long time of sleep, Garrus finally managed to open his eyes, stretched his limbs all around the bed, realizing Tali wasn't with him. Garrus propped himself on his elbows, putting one talon closer to his mouth while making a long yawn. He rubbed his eyes and looked around himself.

"Hmm, Tali? Where could she be?" Garrus asked himself, no response came to him, "A little bit too silent here. I'll rather check it out…" he said and sat up on the bed, grabbing his casual clothes and dressing himself up. He got up and walked out of the room as he spotted Tali sitting in the kitchen, staring blankly at her connected hands as if something was on her mind. At the moment the door to the bedroom closed behind Garrus, the sound alerted Tali so she looked at her husband who stood by the door.

"Garrus! You're awake…" Tali said and Garrus went inside the kitchen, sitting beside Tali.

"I've never slept that well in my entire life, Tali. Now I woke up and noticed the silence. Even the guest room for Shepard and Liara seems empty."

"Oh, yeah it is. Liara and Shepard thought they could take kids out and so they went shopping in wards."

"You don't seem happy about it." Garrus supported his head with hand.

"What? No, it's not like that. There's something else. I was thinking about it since we returned from past…"

"What is it, Tali? Is it something about Daniel?"

"Daniel is fine, Garrus… except for that we should go and see him for what he asked from us, it's something different." Tali said and stood up, walking to a window, "It's Veetor. If you remember, we left him at the hospital after Shepard choked him. I know he may be right, but I'm actually quite concerned about his mental state…" Tali explained. Garrus smiled, walking behind her and placing his arms around Tali's belt.

"Why such concern, Tali? You know what would happen if we let Veetor take Daniel. You saw how it affected future. We did what was necessary…"

"Garrus, you don't understand. Since Migrant fleet was wiped out, I and Veetor are the only remaining quarians in the universe, or at least we don't know about any other survivors. Veetor just wanted it back. He wanted our friends and families to be alive, and I can understand that. The only problem is that Veetor is neurotic. He cannot handle stress well and when he got Daniel, it was problem because of his biotics. The idea was fine, but Veetor shouldn't have done that…"

"Is that so? And what do you want to do now, Tali?"

"I was searching for information, asked hospitals and they told me Veetor was taken into mental hospital where Daniel was. For his neurotic problems, he is kept there and according to what I found, he is happy in there."

"Well, if he is happy, then I don't know what the problem is."

"The problem is that Veetor might be angry with me, with us… I don't want that. I like Veetor, he is still like my little brother that I care about. I think I should see him."

"Alright, let's go." Garrus answered simply.

"W-W-Wait! What?!"

"Let's go, Tali. If you want to have a talk with Veetor then we shouldn't waste time talking here!"

"But I… yeah, you're right. Let me just send a message to Shepard so they know we're not here…" Tali said and used her omni-tool to send a message. Once done, she and Garrus left their flat and headed to mental hospital. They entered the building and stopped at the reception where Thane Krios talked to the asari receptionist they both knew.

"Tali, Garrus? What brings you here?" Thane asked.

"We're here to have a chat with Veetor'Nara, Thane. Diana, is he able to talk to us?" Tali asked the asari receptionist.

"Veetor is now having session with doctor Tate. You need to wait before he finishes but you can take a seats next to Veetor's room." Diana told them and Tali nodded.

"How are things holding up, Thane?" Garrus asked.

"Honestly, I can't complain. There aren't any attempts on committing suicide like three years ago. After that, the security was fortified and all weapons were removed so patients wouldn't harm themselves."

"You mean Dan. I think we were just in time before it happened." Garrus said.

"Indeed but I can't see how you could predict that would happen…" Thane said and Garrus with Tali looked at themselves, then back at Thane, giving him shrug, "I guess it's better you were there. Herald Tate is surely happy for Daniel to be alive."

"They live together, right?" Tali asked and Thane nodded.

"I visited doctor Tate to see how Daniel was doing. From what I could see, Daniel is smiling again, but it's still the sad smile if you understand."

"We will try to help him. Now we have to talk to Veetor." Garrus said.

"Please do so. I and Diana have something to discuss." Thane explained and the asari receptionist chuckled which meant that these things were private. Garrus and Tali could tell Thane had spot for the asari and they were right because those two were together, and obviously they were happy to be together. Seeing Thane smile was also rare. However, Tali and Garrus made their way up to the second floor and sat down next to Veetor's room. Long ten minutes passed, Tali was twiddling her thumbs, Garrus could see how tense she was.

"I think… I forgot to check the door to our flat! We should go!" Tali stood up from the chair and Garrus pulled her immediately back in, taking her hands in his big talons.

"Tali, what is up with being so tense? Relax…"

"It's easy for you to say that, Garrus… I am afraid of Veetor being angry."

"You will never find out with running away. You'll see how the things will go. Once we see him we-" Garrus said, not finishing the sentence as the door to Veetor's room opened and doctor Tate went out, closing behind himself. He noticed the quarian and turian sitting next to each other.

"Ah! Tali'Zorah and Garrus Vakarian! It's been so long you two have been here!" Doctor Tate smiled.

"Good morning to you, doctor. How is Daniel doing?" Garrus asked.

"Oh, Daniel, that little sun of mine. I cannot be grateful enough for what you did to him. He changed his attitude since that time. He smiles and you wouldn't believe how nice it feels to see somebody like him smiling!"

"Are you two happy together, doctor?" Tali asked

"It's not like that we are continuously in bed but important is that we are there for each other. I have somebody to spend the rest of my life with. Yes, Daniel still has problems to be taken into public but I can live with that because of his diagnosis. For you to understand, before Daniel came, I was alone in my apartment and It seems that I gave Daniel some consolation since he is unable to walk… he also gave me consolation by coming to me."

"You seemed to be quite optimistic for living alone before, doctor."

"I was, well, I had to because of my patients, but in Daniel's case I didn't need to pretend anything. We are both much obliged to you and Shepard. Without you, we wouldn't find each other." Doctor explained and Garrus smiled.

"I'll make sure Shepard knows that, thank you doctor." Garrus said.

"Thank you too, Garrus. Also, Daniel was quite frequently mentioning your name and he wants you both with Shepard to see him. He said he wants to talk to you about something more personal."

"When can we come?" Tali asked.

"Late afternoons are free every day. You can come any day you wish."

"We will use that opportunity as soon as possible. Now we need to talk to Veetor. Can we come in?"

"Sure, Veetor makes progress so I think you could see him." Doctor Tate said and started walking away, "I and Daniel will be waiting for you! See you!" he said and left. Tali exhaled air long and Garrus helped to push towards the door.

"Fine, fine! I'll go in! Keelah…" Tali said, opening the door and seeing Veetor reading a book. Once he registered the movement of door, he looked up from his reading to see who would like to see him.

"Tali! Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and Garrus Vakarian!" Veetor cheered as he put his book on the table next to the bed, "Tali! Come in! I was thinking where you could be so long time! I wanted to see you!" he said and Garrus pushed her in the room. Tali finally went inside voluntarily, taking seat next to Veetor's bed. Garrus sat next to her.

"How do you like it here, Veetor? Are people here nice?" Tali asked.

"Yes! Yes, people are nice here. The doctor said I should be ok, only avoid stress situations!" Veetor answered with energy in his voice. Tali smiled behind her mask.

"That's… good, Veetor. I am happy for you… doctor Tate is a good man." Tali said, a sad tone in her voice.

"Tali'Zorah? Why are you sad? Did Veetor make you feel worried? I am ok! See?"

"No, Veetor… I was just feeling bad that I couldn't see you sooner. You know, things were a little crazy and… I know what you wanted to do three years ago and we had to stop you and… you wanted quarians to be back and…" Tali was connecting many things together, not sure where to stop or where to start, "and I believe your intentions were good, but we couldn't let you…" she finished. Veetor didn't know what to say, silence was set and Tali was looking at her thighs as if avoiding Veetor's look. She was afraid of his reaction and expected the worst from him to say.

However, it was different from what she expected. Veetor rested his hand on her shoulder, making slow movements down her arm. Tali looked at Veetor who decided to speak.

"I know, Tali. You did the right thing and I think I am happier this way. I am not mad at you, I cannot. You helped me in the worst times. I will always like you." Veetor said with calm tone. Tali moved from her chair and hugged Veetor.

"Thank you, Veetor! I will always be here if you need me!" she said.

"I hope you're still mine, Tali…" Garrus snickered.


	10. Chapter 10

Herald Tate and Daniel Husk were at their apartment on the Citadel, they were expecting Daniel's friends to come along to see how their friend changed after three years. They were informed about arrival of Shepard's group one evening so Herald and Daniel thought it would be good to prepare some dinner since they were expecting four people coming in with their children. Tate took a role of the chef while Daniel laid the table. Both of them worked quite fast and preparations were done within an hour.

Time was nearing to 6 PM and Daniel thought of getting some shower before his friends came. Showering was very difficult thanks to his paralyzed legs, but Tate thought about Daniel's needs and knew that his apartment needed adjustments like wheelchair access everywhere and also the shower had special seat where Daniel could sit and shower himself without standing on his feet. After taking shower, he needed to dry himself, that was harder part. He had to dry himself and dress himself up. Everything so simple about hygiene was suddenly an obstacle.

"Shepard! You came just in time! I can see you brought your kids with you as well!" Daniel heard Herald speaking as he finished drying his hair. Daniel quickened with dressing up in his casual clothes so he could greet Shepard and others himself.

"Where's Daniel?" Shepard asked.

"Taking shower. He'll be here within minute." Herald explained and Daniel just opened the door from shower, entering the mess hall in his wheelchair.

"Hey, everybody! Good to see you!" Daniel smiled.

"Likewise, Dan. You look well despite the fact you're bound to a wheelchair!" Garrus remarked.

"Thanks."

"We can talk by the table. Come, I've made some traditional meals I remember from times of my youth back on Palaven." Herald explained, taking Daniel's wheelchair to take him to the dining room.

"Spirits, I hope it's nothing that will eat through their tissue, Herald!" Garrus said and Herald laughed to that, realizing the physiological differences between species. Herald made sure the ingredients he used to cook weren't defective or harmful to his guests. At the dinner, Mira and Denos were set on the carpet to play. Luckily, Herald's apartment was safe enough for the babies so there wasn't risk of them getting hurt. During the evening each pair explained their further plans to future.

Garrus and Shepard wanted to know whether Daniel wanted to undergo a surgery that could help him with his immobility. Daniel answered plainly that some time he will but not now because there weren't any finances. He was thinking of going back to the university, teaching and lecturing students as he did before. When Mira and Denos weren't in near proximity, Garrus couldn't resist and asked Herald and Daniel how it went in interspecies love. Herald laughed to it, but Daniel just said that with his paralyze his senses were limited. Only Herald enjoyed the sex mostly.

Daniel wondered if Legion could have come and Shepard explained how much work lies in front of him as councilor. Their dinner ended in two hours after talking about various topics and making jokes. However, before they left, Daniel needed to speak about what he asked them three years ago.

"Now that we are all here together and the atmosphere is relaxed, I think it would be the right time to talk about what I wanted to discuss with you."

"What is that?" Liara asked.

"All of you remember three years ago that once you saved me, you explained me the situations that would follow if I died. I feel way better, I can be happy to smile again, even though I can't walk. I have Herald, that is the best what came into my life after I thought I would die in solitude…" Daniel said as his hand was clamped with grasp of his turian sitting next to him, "However, I am not entirely done with my past. It still haunts me and I need your help."

"How can we help you with past, Daniel? I thought project Soma was dealt with and yet, we cannot travel back in time." Tali said.

"I don't need from you to travel back in time, Tali. Garrus correctly understood from his nightmares that you must help me in order for me to break away from past. Herald and I had this topic discussed but we couldn't see many options, then I remembered about Geth technology. With Geth technology that helps you to enter the mainframe and visualize it, Legion and my Geth version can help us." Daniel said and Garrus raised his talon against him.

"Wait a little, stop right there! Do I understand that you want us to enter your head?"

"That is the pretty accurate, Garrus. I can still see things that don't let me live normally. Something in my head wants me to stay at the same spot. I don't know what it is, but it needs to be destroyed." Daniel said.

"Daniel wishes to return to normal life, and so do I wish for him. You are his friends and we hope you would help him. If you agree, don't expect your trip inside Daniel's mind to be somehow nice. Dan might be there to guide you, but you must be there for him too. As a psychologist, I know what I talk about because you are your worst enemy." Herald explained and for a moment, everyone looked at Shepard as if it was his decision. As their former commander, he had to decide. Shepard leaned back at the chair, crossing his arms, thinking and then he decided to speak.

"Well, I have considered the facts. It was me who helped you to integrate in 22. century and life with aliens. I helped you to deal with project Soma. Legion saved your life in Cerberus base and gave you a new hope in partnership. All of us, even our former crewmembers were there for you in Cerberus base when you were decided to create galactic chaos but you didn't do it. Garrus saved your life three years ago. However, I can see that nothing what happened was merely a coincidence, not even Garrus' nightmares. You managed to go so far and it would be shame to stop."

"So, will you help me?" Daniel asked.

"We haven't given up on you so far and now we won't do it when you're so close to the conclusion." Shepard said and Daniel left a weak smile on his face.

"Thank you, Shepard, and everybody else. Well, we will see each other tomorrow, I suppose?" Daniel asked and was given nod from his friends. Shepard along with others stood up from the table, Shepard took Mira, Garrus grabbed Denos in his arms, Herald opened door for them so they could leave. Before the door closed, they waved back at Daniel who waved them back. Once Shepard's people left, the apartment silenced again. Daniel took the plates in the kitchen, Herald folded the table-cloth and put it back in place.

After having dinner with friends, Daniel got in bed with help of Herald. Both of them took off their causal wears and laid in bed with their underwear on. They rested by watching TV, having their windows darkened so the artificial sunlight of the Citadel wouldn't disturb them and after some time, Herald decided to talk to Daniel.

"So what do you think of turian traditional cuisine now?"

"A little bit spicier, but keep spoiling me like that and you might end up cooking only one food for the rest of my life." Daniel said plainly and Herald laughed when he realized what Daniel wanted to say.

"I take it as a compliment? Thanks, Dan." Herald said.

"You're welcome, Harry." Daniel answered. Both of them used handles in private and especially before something big was going to happen. Herald was sleeping on the right side of bed, while Daniel kept the left side. Suddenly, as the room was dark and only the television screen illuminated them, the turian's claw traced Daniel's belly and even Daniel was partially paralyzed there, he couldn't ignore the feeling of hard skin against his own. He looked at Herald who was looking at him too. Longing in his deep blue eyes resembled that the turian desired for sexual satisfaction.

"I wasn't expecting the dinner to be free." Daniel smiled while saying that and Herald chuckled, placing his talon along Daniel's waist to pull him closer. Herald started to cuddle Daniel and nuzzle his face against the side of Daniel's torso. He purred nicely against Daniel's skin, making him relaxed but at the same time, the hard faceplates nuzzling against the skin gave him chills down his spine, or at least what remained of it. However, Daniel couldn't resist the beautiful coloring of Herald's faceplates.

His dark grey plates with light grey markings kept Daniel within trance and for the way he treated this human, with love and care, Daniel was willing to give this turian what he desired. Daniel found everything perfect about this turian. His personality, his voice, appearance. It almost reminded him of Renok, his first turian male partner he met long time ago and fell in love with. Unfortunately, that turian was killed by former Cerberus, leaving Daniel downhearted until Legion helped him. Now, Cerberus was gone, Reapers were gone, batarian terrorists were far away.

Daniel didn't need to worry about this turian. They both spent fifteen minutes with cuddles until Daniel decided to take over Herald and pushed him to lie down.

"Ok, big boy! I get it. Now let me handle this…" Daniel said as he went under the blanket to do what he could. Once Daniel starting with satisfying his partner, his turian couldn't do nothing but just enjoy. No matter what rumors about turians were, Daniel knew that this turian appreciated the human's company and wanted him for himself. It was 10 PM once Daniel was done with Herald. The enjoyment was big the way that Herald kept Daniel close to himself, foreheads connected, both of them asleep and they could feel the warm air as they breathed against each other. That feeling was giving them feeling of safety and satisfaction.

Next morning, Daniel woke up and as Herald sensed the movement of bed, he opened his deep blue eyes, looking at Daniel dressing himself up on the bed.

"Mhm… Dan…?" Herald murmured and Daniel sat into his wheelchair.

"I have to go and see Shepard, Harry. He sent me a message to my omni-tool that my Geth version is expecting me in the Citadel tower." He said and started driving the wheelchair towards the door.

"Keep me informed… I need to know you're fine…" Herald mumbled.

"I will, don't worry. By the way, thanks for yesterday. We should do it more often." Daniel smiled and left the apartment. Herald closed his eyes again, hoping to fall asleep again. He didn't sleep for long because he needed to wake up and head back to mental hospital to start his shift. Daniel was on his way to the Citadel tower. Other Aliens found it strange to see human on a wheelchair so Daniel caught many glares during his way. Once at the entrance to the tower, he was stopped by a turian C-Sec officer.

"What?! What do you mean I need proper authorization?!" Daniel exclaimed.

"I'm very sorry, but if none of the councilors or their advisors have told me about you, I cannot let you…" the officer said and sniffed, "Why do I smell turian from you?" he asked and Daniel started to stutter.

"Wha-Wha-What the f-f-fuck?! Stop with that smelling thing and let me in! Adrian Shepard and others are expecting me!"

"Adrian Shepard, huh? I wish you had evidence because-" he was cut off when somebody called him to his transmitter, "Oh… of course, Daniel… I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting he would be on a wheelchair… yes, will do…" he stopped the transmission, "Well, it seems that advisor of the Geth councilor knows about you. You may enter." He walked away from his direction, pointing at the tower. Daniel got with his wheelchair in the elevator and after that in the tower. There he found Shepard with others and also his Geth version that would lead them through the process.

"Why can't Legion do this himself?" Garrus asked.

"Councilor has other things to attend. You can be happy you don't need to fly all the way behind Perseus Veil in the Geth space to get to our technology. Most of it was transported here in mobile platforms." The Geth Daniel explained. Shepard, Tali, Garrus, Liara and Daniel were all connected with helmets and everyone was connected to Daniel's head through one server. The Geth Daniel with assistance of other Geth launched process of connection.

Soon, all of them except for Daniel appeared in a dark place, nobody really knew what to do, only Garrus was getting horrible chills when he looked around, thinking he was here already.


	11. Chapter 11

Shepard's group was inside Daniel's mind, however, it was very dark corner of his mind. Nothing but pitch blackness around, only Garrus remembered this place.

"Where the hell are we? What is this place?" Tali asked.

"Why is everything so dark around here?" Liara added.

"Maybe there was some mistake in the transfer. What do you think, Garrus? Garrus?" Shepard looked at the turian who seemed a little frightened.

"This place… like in my nightmares… it doesn't feel right. I don't want to be here…" Garrus said. Shepard placed hand on his shoulder, making him to look at back.

"Garrus, we are here. Don't worry…"

"Shepard is right." Daniel's voice sounded and everyone looked at the direction where the voice was coming from. They saw Daniel coming from the distance. Yes, he was walking. He didn't have a wheelchair inside his mind.

"Daniel? How come you're not bound to a wheelchair?" Garrus asked.

"This is my mind and I don't see myself in a wheelchair here so…"

"Where are we, Daniel? Why is it so… dark and cold in here?" Liara asked.

"This is the place where the negative emotions are contained. Anger, fear, anxiety, disappointment, sadness, everything is stored here and problem in here is that this place is fed with these emotions continuously. Even though I have nothing to be worried about, this place grows stronger, it's more evil, more diabolical, darker. Be careful not to let your bad emotions to control you. They will be only powered by the evil essence of this place."

"I'm not sure we can fight whatever causes this place growing stronger, Daniel. What are we going to do?" Shepard asked.

"We're going on a journey to meet this thing that is fucking me up internally. However, we must go through some moments of my life that weren't very happy mostly. You'll be honored to see my old memories. Let's go…" Daniel said and his friends followed him through the darkness. It appeared that only Daniel knew the place because none of his friends knew how to navigate through darkness. Soon they saw a door.

"A door?" Shepard asked.

"Our first stop…" Daniel said and opened them, "Go in." he pointed and his friends entered the door. Once Daniel came through them, he closed behind himself. They weren't in blackness anymore. It appeared as some sort of hospital, bright hospital. It was day time and Liara wanted to know where they were.

"Where are we? What time?"

"7 March 1996…" Daniel said shortly.

"Wait, your birthday?" Shepard asked and Daniel nodded. Shepard with others could hear sounds of despair and panic and doctors were running in one particular room. They followed the doctors, seeing a woman giving birth.

" _We're losing him!_ " one of the doctors shouted.

" _He's getting choked by the umbilical cord!_ " the other one shouted. Daniel stood next to his friends who observed the birth. They looked at him.

"Can't they see us?" Shepard asked.

"No. Practically we're ghosts in here."

"So this is your birth, Daniel? What happened?" Liara asked.

"Basically, I was getting choked within my mother's womb by umbilical cord. Doctors saw my heart was not beating."

"You didn't need to come through all the life, right?" Tali said and Daniel nodded. Later they only saw the little baby screaming as it got out of womb by caesarian section.

"Well, natural way of birth wasn't possible. They had to cut through my mom's belly to get me out."

"Does it have influence if kid is born naturally or not?" Garrus asked.

"During natural birth as the kid is pushing through, important biochemical processes are catalyzed. I wasn't born naturally so I didn't get through that phase…" Daniel sighed, "Maybe that's the reason of my autism…" he completed and Shepard with his people noticed the place burning down.

"What the… fire?!" Shepard was surprised but Daniel gestured to continue in their journey. On the way through hospital, Shepard was asking Daniel, "Why is that place burning?"

"I'm getting rid of that memory by burning it."

"Why did you burn memory? Memories are precious!" Liara said and Daniel stood by next door at the end of the hallway.

"I must destroy every memory that could possibly feed the evil within this part of my mind. This is our next stop." Daniel said and opened a door. All of them entered a class of little children.

"Is this the elementary school?" Tali asked Daniel who nodded. There was a bell ringing on a break. Once the teacher left the room, the kids parted into smaller groups. Everyone talked to each other, except for one little kid sitting in his desk and having stuff ready for the next class, waiting for the bell to ring.

"Hmm? I guess that lonely kid in the desk is you?" Garrus asked him as he walked closer to the kid. Daniel gave him nod and Garrus looked at his desk, "Perfectly ready for the next class… military loves order!"

"Just keep watching…" Daniel said and Garrus with others saw other kids approaching little Daniel from behind. Then they started to surround him, talking to him but Daniel didn't know who to talk first to. Little Daniel didn't know what to do and before he noticed anything, other kids started to pull him by hair and threw him from his chair. They started kicking him and picking on him as he lied on the ground defenseless.

"What?! There's like seven of them!" Garrus said in wonder as he withdrawn from the conflict.

"These kids bullied you because you didn't know how to react in crowd? That' lame…" Shepard said.

"That's sick! Veetor also had trouble in crowds! How can children be so evil to bully one while there is like seven of them?!" Tali exclaimed.

"I was seven. This is the first grade of elementary school and obviously kids didn't like me because I was silent. This shit lasted for three years until third grade and then it came…" Daniel explained, walking towards another door and opening them. His friends entered the room while Daniel burned the classroom memory with his mind. Daniel joined his friends and they watched a sort of consulting room with little Daniel, his mother and woman doctor.

"What's this?" Shepard asked.

"The time when people started to look at me differently…" Daniel said.

" _I talked to your son Daniel and after letting Daniel to complete tests I gave him I managed to find appropriate diagnosis._ " The doctor said.

" _What is with him? He has problems with his classmates and the absence at school is only increasing…_ " Daniel's mother noted.

" _Yes. Your little Daniel has Asperger Syndrome._ "

" _Asperger Syndrome? What is it?_ "

" _It's one of many autistic disorders. Daniel is autist. His state isn't critical but still, he has some needs._ "

" _I don't know much about autists, only from what I've seen from movies… can you explain this to me?_ "

" _Autistic person is sensitive. He cannot handle stressful situations, crowds, rather hides in silent places. He demands precision, order and slight change in his life can cause him problems to adapt. It's natural he has problems with his classmates. They are many and he is alone against the crowd. He will seek silence while others will make noise. Daniel will mostly find passion in numbers._ "

" _Oh, so I assume I have my little Rain man? Mercury possibly?_ " Daniel's mom laughed.

" _No, no, no. Please, forget about what you learned about autists from these movies. Those are extreme cases and Daniel just needs time to adapt. He will live normally, but it needs time and patience._ " The doctor finished and the place started to burn.

"Clever doctor… so this is the first time they found your problem?" Liara asked.

"Yes."

"You didn't need to burn this memory, Dan. I mean it's not that bad." Shepard said and Daniel went to the door.

"It isn't happy memory either. I can't risk anything…" Daniel said, opening the door. Another door led to a long corridor. Daniel led the way as Shepard and his people could see Daniel and various moments from his youth. Daniel was explaining, "Since I was ten years and doctors found the autism, my life was getting quite wild. I changed five elementary schools before settling in the sixth grade. Meanwhile my dad left us, my brother did the same, I was alone with my mom."

"If they left you, it must have been better that way. Your mother seemed to be nice woman." Shepard said.

"You think so? Years 2008 and 2009 were totally fucked up…" Daniel retorted and opened another door. They appeared in Daniel's home, "welcome home…"

" _Answer me you little shit!_ " woman's hoarse voice sounded across the flat and Shepard with his people and Daniel looked at one room, seeing woman holding bottle of vodka.

" _What is this?_ " Tali looked at Daniel.

"Years 2008 and 2009 were known for economic crisis. It was fucked up time for me. Crisis got to us and because I was the only one at home, I usually had to take the shit." Daniel explained and went around the woman with his friends, kneeling down to his former self that was 13 years old.

" _You're afraid of me, aren't you?! You'd rather be with that son of a bitch your dad, right?!_ " she shouted and 13 years old Daniel who was only shaking in the corner, sobbing and holding his head between knees. The place started burning as Daniel wished to erase another memory. He left the room as his friends watched the kid suffering in the corner.

"Daniel… why was she getting herself drunk? It couldn't be only the crisis…" Tali asked as they were walking towards him.

"She was paranoiac but she refused that option. I know that my childhood was ruined! I couldn't do anything, couldn't go anywhere! I had to suffer! Thanks to alcohol, she almost committed suicide while I was sleeping… damn I hate it when I remember about that… I woke up, she was arguing with my brother and his girlfriend and then… jumped out of window…" Daniel sighed. There wasn't really much that others could tell him.

"I'm sorry, Dan. I understand you want to get rid of these memories…" Tali said.

"Yeah… let's go. There's still much to do…" Daniel said going for another door with his friends behind.


	12. Chapter 12

Daniel along with Shepard and his people continued in journey through Daniel's mind to stop source of evil growing inside his head. They were walking through another corridor of memories.

"After finishing the primary education, I went to high school. First, I wanted to be IT guy but it didn't go so well so I transferred into grammar school later and I graduated of course." Daniel explained.

"What's the deal with high school if you graduated?" Shepard asked and Daniel opened door to another memory, this time into year 2016. They entered Daniel's flat again and they went into Daniel's room. There was Daniel, 20 years old, sitting by his PC, but at his face was full of fatigue and depression.

"What was wrong with you?" Garrus asked.

"Year 2016 was one of the most depressive years for me. After I graduated, I was considering my options on job in case I wouldn't succeed as a teacher of math and physics. That summer was hell for me. I was continuously depressed but it wasn't sudden depression. Through my studies on high school I was realizing how stressed I was. Everything was making me sick, people were evil to me and this is how I ended. I wished to die…"

"How is that possible? Couldn't you try to find some job?" Shepard asked.

"Oh if I could! I tried so hard to find job, but guess who was standing between me and the job."

"Mother…?"

"Yes! Every time I wanted to do fucking something, it was fucked when my mother didn't allow it! I couldn't protest because I didn't have anything! I was always depending on my mother! She never let me out alone when I wanted… and that's how I started to doubt my chances for normal, happy life. When you are prisoner at your own home, you tend to think of suicide, you think deeply, like I did…"

"I can't believe your mother changed so much during your life, Dan… I can see why you were so anxious." Tali said.

"She probably meant it well but didn't know how she hurt me with her overprotective behavior." Daniel said, the place was falling in flames again and another door led to lake in a day time. With his friends, Daniel walked on the pier and stepped into a boat, "Make yourselves comfortable…" he said, sitting by the paddles, taking them and as everyone was in the boat. He started moving the boat out of the pier. Suddenly, as they were on the water, a calming sound started as it sounded like voices of angels singing around them.

"What is the purpose of this lake…?" Liara asked.

"It shows that even in the darkest times, you can find some calm place to relax. This is my place. On the other shore we will continue with our journey." Daniel explained. He concentrated on paddling the boat to the other shore as others listened to the calming sound and looked around the lake. In no time, they were on the other shore by a cabin and next to the cabin they could notice a noose. They rather ignored it and followed Daniel as he opened door to another memory. This time, it was Daniel's promotion to a master's degree.

There was a hall full of people, parents, students, professors, rector and everybody to congratulate the graduates of master degree.

"This looks like a good memory." Liara remarked.

"It is. This is the time I've come for my diploma and my master degree. One of the best days of my life because I could finally be sure I would find a job."

"Everything looks so noble! So… amazing!" Tali added.

"Yes. Graduates have blue gowns, professors and Dean of the faculty have black gowns, rector of the university has red gown. If you stay in historical building like this, you can sense how the knowledge breathes at you… I got my degree at 2021." Daniel smiled but looked at the door on the far side of the hall, "Come. We have to get going." And his friends followed him through the hall, seeing how each student got his tube with diploma. Another door led into laboratory where Daniel worked.

"What is this?" Garrus asked.

"Year 2020. Before I got my diploma, I was invited for cooperation in project that would change organic life…"

"Project Soma." Shepard said and Daniel nodded.

"It seemed to be good idea, but something went horribly wrong…" Daniel said, walking through laboratory and opening another door, seeing fire across the laboratory and dead people around, "Our test subject who passed the beta testing has gone rogue and wanted to destroy everything that would get in his way for setting autocracy." Daniel said and an android passed the burning laboratory, a fury within his optics.

"And you terminated the project. Is that correct?" Liara asked and Daniel gave her nod.

"It wasn't easy to deal with the android possessed by mind of the human we used. However, imprisoning him in magnetic field gave me enough time to short-circuit him and deactivate all functions." Daniel said and opened another door. These led to a cryogenic facility. Once all of them entered the hall with cryogenic pods, Daniel looked at himself from past, signing contract.

"You signed yourself for this." Shepard said.

"This is year 2025. Those people needed somebody for this and I signed myself up once I had some money from my employment." Daniel explained.

"May we know why did you do so?" Liara asked, not understanding Daniel's cryo-stasis.

"You saw all those memories I showed you so far and you ask me yet?! Ok, fine… I signed because nobody was interested in me. I signed because I moved from my family that didn't care for what I wanted! I didn't have a friends! I just had fucking money so I used them to get myself into better future!" Daniel snapped out.

"Daniel… you ok? You are getting pretty tense." Garrus noted and Daniel looked back at him quickly, then looked back at cryogenic pods.

"What do you want from me?! How do you expect me to react to the shit I have to watch here?! I am dealing with my past so try not to question my motives! You wouldn't be happy to see letting Lantar Sidonis go either, Garrus…"

"I let Sidonis because I saw good in him! How can you just talk about Sidonis like that?!" Garrus growled back at Daniel and Shepard stepped between them.

"Alright, I think we are done here… Daniel, take us somewhere else before you both tear each other apart!" Shepard said and Daniel opened one cryogenic pod, revealing path into the future after he met Shepard. Liara and Tali remained at place for a while.

"Did you notice something, Liara?"

"Yes. Daniel, Garrus… even Shepard seem to be tense."

"It's like what Daniel said. The evil essence is supporting their aggression."

"But why don't we feel anything?"

"I don't know, maybe because we aren't that aggressive as they by their nature. However, we are approaching our goal for sure and we must keep those three apart from each other or they will do something silly…" Tali said and Liara nodded.

"Slow pokes! Come on!" Garrus called them through the pod. Tali and Liara followed them and once they came through, they realized where they were, or at least Daniel knew.

"What is this place? It looks like a prison, of some sort." Tali asked and Daniel pointed at logo on the door which was very familiar to Tali, "Cerberus!"

"This is my cell after I refused to tell Cerberus about project Soma… you can guess who is hiding in the shadows, playing with biotics…" Daniel said, pointing at the shadowy corner. Everyone could hear the insidious laugh that Daniel from past made.

"I don't like this a bit…" Shepard said.

In a short while the cell lightened up like a Christmas tree as Daniel burst with biotics. The door to Daniel's cell were blown up and Daniel ran out. Within a short while, alarm was set through Cerberus headquarters.

" _All Cerberus military troops! Daniel Husk escaped the cell! Repeating! Daniel Husk escaped his cell and is on killing spree! Have no mercy! Do what you must to stop him!_ " The Illusive man said through announcement.

"Let's go and see the fun…" Daniel said and went out of the cell. His friends followed him. They all followed the blood trail Daniel from past left behind him as he was making his way through Cerberus resistance. The blood trail led to the office of the Illusive man where it stopped. Shepard and others stopped by the office, seeing as the Daniel from past who was transformed half-way into husk and how he treated the Illusive man with his biotics. Daniel used his pull to bash the tyrant on the ground and walls.

" _Dan-Daniel! Stop! Please, make it stop!_ " The Illusive man tried to get his breath as Daniel stopped his attacks.

" _Why should I stop?!_ "

" _You are… reasonable man. We can negotiate…"_ the Illusive man offered as Daniel used shockwave attack.

" _Negotiate? I don't think Renok had this option when your soldier crushed his head!_ "

" _What happened to Renok… must have been done… how else you would come?_ " the Illusive man said and Daniel lifted him with biotics, "No…! Daniel! If you kill me, you can be sure it won't be enough to stop Cerberus!"

" _Thank you for the biotics. Now, die you monster!_ " Daniel from past said as the biotic powers torn the Illusive man apart. A door opened to the right side when Daniel and his friends looked at it.

"Let's go." Daniel said and all of them came through the door. This time they appeared on a wreck site. Daniel, Garrus and Shepard could recognize this place.

"This is the wreckage of Normandy." Shepard noted as they all watched the broken cryogenic pod and Daniel from past waking up. They saw how he realized he had to escape and activate the distress beacon in order to survive.

"You'll see the best part now. I absolutely hated this…" Daniel remarked and listened to what the Daniel from past was about to do. His right limbs were imprisoned under the heavy piece of metal from Normandy.

" _I must… I must leave my limbs here…_ " he said and everyone covered their eyes as they noticed Daniel starting to rip his limbs off. Even they tried to ignore, sounds of the tissue ripping off the body was so disgusting that not only Shepard wanted to throw up. To it, Daniel from past who was ripping his limbs off screamed in indescribable way. Such a horrific scream of pain that couldn't be described as Daniel felt his limbs were ripped off. None of Daniel's friends wished to watch this but they could still hear the hyperventilation and heard how Daniel crawled his way out of the wreckage.

"Why… why, Daniel?! Why are you showing this to us?!" Liara said, her eyes still covered.

"I needed you to be my support… this was the last memory… let's go! We're nearing to the end!"

Daniel said and his friends followed him, the blood trail under their legs was still fresh, making them uneased but they were close to the end of this. Suddenly, Liara fell down on her knees.


	13. Chapter 13

Daniel opened a portal to the final location of his darkest corner of his mind when something happened. Liara fell down on her knees, she was weak, breathing and Shepard went down to help her.

"Liara! Liara, what's with you?!"

"Shepard, I… I don't know how much I can handle. All those memories, the places, situations… everything so depressive… my head hurts!" she said and Shepard took one her arm around his neck.

"Hold on, Liara! We are almost done here! You heard Daniel, we're close!" he told her and she nodded, taking a deep breath and standing on with Shepard's help. They all crossed the portal into the darkest place of Daniel's mind. Once the portal closed, each one of his friends was overwhelmed with horrible buzzy sounds and sobbing sounds coming from all directions.

"These sounds! Daniel! Where are we?!" Garrus asked, recognizing these sounds from his nightmares.

"Mental maze. This is the last thing we have to complete before facing the real threat! This is what I saw prior to my suicide attempt! Nightmares with mental maze I always tried to go through! I never beat it! Always right before end, I was dragged to the beginning! This is where I need your help the most!"

"Why don't you just go and find the right route, huh? We can wait for you until it drags you back here!" Shepard snapped out in aggressive tone.

"Hey, don't be so mean on him, Shepard! He's done nothing wrong!" Garrus said.

"No! They start again, Tali!" Liara warned her.

"Shut up, Vakarian! Don't play wise man when we all know that turians solve everything with bombing everything out!" Shepard growled.

"Really?! It's better than stupid humans dominating half of the galaxy as a pet of the Council!" Garrus shouted at him and Shepard punched Garrus at his mandibles, making them crack.

"Keelah! Shut your fuck up! Both of you!" Tali shouted as she came between them, "Can't you see what's happening to you? All of you! All of us! The evil essence is just upping our aggression! Making us shout at each other! We cannot stop here! We have to deal with whatever is expecting us!" Tali said, taking heavy breath after shouting at Garrus and Shepard. Daniel joined them.

"Tali is right… I told you to avoid conflicts. This is what it wants us to do. We are almost at the end. We have to work together, the sounds, sobbing, it is crawling inside our heads. Listen to me… As we will approach the end, these buzzy sounds and sobbing sounds will only be worse but keep focused. I know where to go but I need you to cooperate with me. Are you with me?" Daniel explained.

"Yeah… yeah I am… we must go now or we will kill each other here. Sorry for the punch, Garrus." Shepard said.

"I'm fine, Shepard. For our own sake we must continue!" Garrus added. Tali helped Liara who was becoming weak at the mentally sick environment. Daniel was at the lead, Garrus and Shepard behind him, Tali and Liara behind them. The walked through the maze and avoided enemies, the demons hanged upside down that were travelling across the maze on rails on the ceiling. The walls of the maze were covered with blood and everything pointed at the fact they were all at Daniel's sick part of mind.

Daniel used strategy to always turn right so they would get to the end by the circumference of the maze. They were progressing quickly, avoided monsters easily and they could sense as they approached their goal because buzzing and sobbing was intensifying. Finally, Daniel could see the door leading out of the maze.

"There it is! Come! Quickly!" Daniel said and they started to run. However, as others ran towards the door, Daniel got stuck. He felt heavy legs and something pulling him back, "No! Help! It tries to pull me back!" Daniel said, resisting. Liara, Tali, Shepard and Garrus formed a chain and Garrus held Daniel's hand tightly.

"I've got you, Daniel! Don't give up now!" Garrus said as Daniel tried to go forwards and resist the influence of returning, "Pull, Daniel! Pull!" Garrus said and Daniel pulled Garrus' arm as he pulled Shepard, he pulled Tali and Liara pulled through the door out of the maze. They did it. They managed to go through the maze, Daniel finally passed it. Even it wanted him to return back, he managed to get through with help of his friends. They were all breathing heavily, but they were happy.

"Thank you… thank you all… now, I have to encounter the last thing. The thing that wants me to stay on place…" Daniel said and stood up.

"What?! Daniel where do you think you're going?!" Shepard shouted.

"You did a great job. I must face the true enemy here." Daniel said. He was standing in the darkness again with his friends behind, buzzing and sobbing was loud and he knew he was at the source.

"You cannot go without us, Daniel! You cannot do this alone!" Garrus added.

"It's my fight… take rest, friends…" Daniel said and used his biotics to create shockwave all around the pitch blackness. He broke the blackness, it started falling apart as if it was glass shattered into shards. Behind the blackness, everything was white but one place was still black. It was right in front of Daniel and it was a place with table and a book.

"Uh…? A book?" Tali asked, "All this time, we are hunting a book?!"

"Not regular book. It's my book…" Daniel answered.

"What does it change, Daniel? It's still only book!" Liara said.

"But this book is something that I created. It's something doctor Tate said I should write as a part of my therapy. I did so and in progress of time I became possessed by this book. I had urge to finish it, no matter what. It became my life, and unfortunately, it became also my curse. When you read this book, you know you read description of pure evil, everything described in detail… I wrote this, and imprint of this book remained within my head. This book needs to be destroyed or else I will never stop being chased by my past!"

"But this book is in your head! There's the one in real life!" Shepard said.

"Doctor Tate had already taken care about that one. It no longer exists, but this… this feeds on bad emotions and thanks to you, I was able to destroy majority of my worst memories so this book became weak. It will be easy to destroy it!" Daniel said and was about to touch the book when it started screaming and it lifted Daniel in the air.

"Daniel! What's happening?!" Garrus shouted.

"It… it is still strong! I can't move!" Daniel said and the book used telekinesis to throw the human at wall hard. Daniel used counter attack and used biotic attack slam but it had no effect. Then the book spawned Daniel's twin, its face covered in blood, "Fuck!" Daniel shouted as his evil twin attacked him with biotics. The evil twin was laughing insanely and wanted to kill Daniel so much that it chased him through the place around.

"Shepard! We must do something!" Liara said.

"But what?! What can we do against the diabolical book?!"

"Shepard! I have an idea!" Garrus started "It may sound weird but… I think that we can defeat the book in different way than with violence." He said and Daniel still fought his evil twin with biotics. The evil twin only grew stronger and summoned fire axe against Daniel.

"Garrus we haven't got much time before Daniel gets killed!"

"Yes! Look what happens when Daniel tries to defeat his evil counterpart with force!" Garrus said and pointed out the growing strength of the evil twin.

"You mean… yes! Daniel said the book draws its power from negative emotions. Daniel acts in affect. He wants to kill this thing with violence, but Daniel was never like this. We all know it. Violence and negative emotions were behind creation of this book. If we want to defeat it, we must do the opposite!" Liara explained.

"And what do you mean by opposite?" Tali asked.

"All we need to do is to show the evil twin that he is not alone…" Garrus said and stood up. He went further towards the battle field.

"Garrus, no! You'll get yourself killed!" Tali exclaimed.

"Hey! Evil twin!" Garrus shouted and the evil twin stopped chasing Daniel for a while.

"What…" it asked with its murderous look.

"You see that Daniel wishes to kill you, right?"

"That's what I'm hoping for!"

"Well, forget about Daniel for once. Why don't you come over and have a friendly chat?"

"Friend… I don't know that word! All I know is solitude, loneliness and hate towards everything! I find power within these feelings!" the twin explained.

"That's bad, because you are in Daniel's mind, thus you have to pay the rent, and yet we are friends!" Garrus chuckled and the evil twin grinned.

"So! You think you'll win this battle with your nice attitude?! That works on Daniel, but not on what he created!" The evil twin said and charged at Garrus.

"Garrus! Run!" Shepard shouted. Garrus merely smiled and spread his arms open, "What's he doing?! He doesn't defend himself!"

"Garrus!" Daniel shouted as well. Garrus didn't move at all, he just stood at direct line of the evil twin's charge. He smiled, for some reason but he apparently knew why he smiled. The evil twin had evil smile but as he approached Garrus, his smile faded away and the fire axe he was holding was dropped to the ground. The evil twin stopped charging, he slowed down and in near proximity to Garrus, he wrapped his arms around him, burying the face inside his belly, "What…?" Daniel asked, not sure what happened.

"What just happened?" Tali asked.

"It seems Garrus' plan worked. Look!" Liara said, pointing at the tears dripping to the ground.

"D-Damn! Garrus! You're… how could you…" the evil twin started.

"You're still Daniel. And Daniel needs somebody so he doesn't become evil." Garrus explained, his talon running down the evil twin's hair. The evil twin merely looked at Garrus, his blood covered face was being washed with tears that were falling down his face, "You can still be part of Daniel and be happy at once because you are not alone. Now, go and be good with your originator…" Garrus smiled at the evil twin who let Garrus go and went to Daniel.

Daniel wasn't afraid anymore. He was still in shock, but the evil twin didn't scare him. He approached him as well when they were standing in front of each other. They looked at each other for long time, until they finally decided to hug each other in sign of reconcilement. The evil twin cried, but those were tears of happiness. Garrus managed to find out that the creature waking him from his nightmare was the evil twin who only needed some love. Now Daniel could see his evil and the book were no longer going to bother him.


	14. Chapter 14

Legion arrived at the room where his Geth and Daniel as Geth worked on connection between Shepard and others with Daniel as human who was sitting in the center of connection.

"How are they doing?" Legion asked when Geth Daniel looked away from his console.

"They have been there for more than one hour. I am quite afraid of what they could have come across within… my mind."

"What would happen to them if they died in there?" Legion asked.

"They wouldn't be able to disconnect… and because this process is taking somehow long, I am concerned of what happened." Geth Daniel added when the console blinked with green light at each connection nodes.

"It doesn't seem like they are trapped." Legion said and Geth Daniel rerouted the signals back to their sending points, directing the stream of data of everyone's mind back to the original body. Daniel, Shepard, Garrus, Tali and Liara took off helmets with help of other Geth standing behind them. Everyone had to do some exercises as they had to stretch muscles within head and neck. Only Daniel himself held the helmet with smile.

"Dan? How do you feel?" Legion asked as he came to the human. Daniel looked up at Legion's eye with smile.

"My past will never bother me anymore."

"Did you destroy what bothered you?"

"No, Legion. I've realized I was trying to solve this with brute force but that wasn't the way how to solve it."

"If not force then what did you do?" Legion's faceplates adjusted in sign of interest when Garrus decided to jump into it and spoke.

"All that was needed to destroy the evil within Daniel's head was love."

"I don't find this quite self-explanatory." Legion said.

"My book. I wrote book three years ago that created monster. This monster was created from negative feelings and the only way how to defeat it was to use positive emotions such as love." Daniel explained while he moved himself to the wheelchair. Garrus helped Daniel to get out of the tower and he was followed with Shepard and others. The Geth went back to work as Legion disappeared to his quarters to continue with work for the Council. Daniel was feeling great. He felt great weight falling off his body, like he carried boulder all the time and now it was gone.

When he arrived at Herald's apartment, he didn't hesitate to accept hug from him and then told him everything what happened. Shepard and his people returned to their home right after Daniel was safely taken back to Herald's apartment and they returned to their normal lives. Garrus gained enough energy to return back to his work as a C-Sec officer and executor Pallin was happy for Garrus to have the same enthusiasm as before. Shepard and Liara went back to Thessia, this time Shepard applied as a part of local law reinforcement service.

Daniel was thinking of applying to the university on the Citadel, but with his paralyze he didn't think if it would be appropriate for him to lecture in that state. He wasn't sad for that, he knew there would be some other thing to do and Herald was there to support him. One day when Daniel was sitting at computer, Herald returned from his shift at mental hospital and he carried a letter with him.

"Daniel? I'm back!" Herald said, walking inside the room where Daniel was, "Garrus Vakarian stopped me to give me this. He said it's for you." Herald said and Daniel looked at the envelope he was holding.

"Uh…? I didn't know that it would be possible for me to see paper letters in 2189." Daniel said and took the letter, opening it the envelope and pulling out the message itself.

"What's in it?" Herald asked and Daniel started reading.

" _Dear Daniel,_

 _It's quite unusual for me to use paper to send message to someone. However, you are different and in your time, people used paper regularly so I was thinking this would be special occasion. After I saw how difficult it was for you to get in your wheelchair, I was thinking how many difficulties you must have in regular life._

 _Once you left, this idea was still bugging in my mind and didn't let me think clearly during the work. It hurts me to see that somebody who helped me to find my personality, who helped me to understand my emotions has to suffer like this and because of that, I contacted your friends and with help of donations from the Council, we managed to collect enough credits for surgery._

 _This surgery will take place at Huerta memorial hospital and its goal is to replace the damaged part of your spinal cord with cybernetic implant so you can walk again. Please, accept this credit chit with 2.000.000 credits from the Council and your friends so you can undergo the surgery._

 _Have a pleasant day,_

 _Legion, the Geth Councilor_ " Daniel read and spotted a handwritten signatures of Shepard, Liara, Garrus, Tali, Thane, Kasumi, Jack and Samara. He merely smiled over it.

"Dan, that is amazing! You have opportunity to be able to walk!" Herald said with astonishment in his voice. However, Daniel looked at the credit chit and thought for a while. Herald expected answer and looked at Daniel the way as he sensed problem.

"Well… it sounds great, thinking that I could walk again… but neural surgery sounds dangerous and I don't know if I should risk that." Daniel said. He was looking at the credit chit and Herald placed his talon on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel looked at him.

"Daniel, look. Neural surgery was dangerous in your times because there wasn't much known about neurons. The only thing safely known was that they don't regenerate. However, Huerta memorial hospital provides the best services and the medicine is highly advanced. You have nothing to worry about. If something goes wrong… I will love you either way, even you might not walk, you know that." Herald reassured him with smile.

"I am happy the way it is, Herald. It makes me happy to know we can be there for each other."

"I know, Daniel, but I feel bad because every time we are having sex, you never get the satisfaction. I want you to get that feeling like I do." Herald said, taking Daniel's hand in both his talons. As Daniel looked in those deep blue eyes that stared at him, he saw how Herald wished that the joy from sex was mutual. Daniel smiled at him.

"Alright, Herald. I will do it, for both of us." He said and Herald touched Daniel's face gently. He examined the human's cheek for a while and then decided to close the distance between them with kiss. Daniel was fully convinced to undergo the neural surgery and one week later, he was lying on the surgery table. Given anesthetics, he fell asleep and Herald was waiting outside the surgery room. The surgery took two hours, from opening the spine to connecting every nerve to the implant.

Daniel woke up an hour after the surgery was done. He found himself on the surgery table facing the room as he was lied down on his stomach.

"Doctor?" Daniel asked as he noticed salarian sitting at the console who stopped his work once he noticed the human waking up.

"Daniel Husk. How do you feel?" the salarian said as he stood next to Daniel.

"Stiff… how long have I been out?"

"Three hours approximately, but the surgery is done."

"It is?" Daniel said as he propped himself using his elbows. The salarian helped him to turn around on the bed. Daniel sat on it.

"Do you wish to try walking?" he asked and Daniel nodded. Doctor held Daniel's one arm as he moved his legs slowly off the bed and then gently jumped down from the bed. Daniel could stand on his feet. He took a few steps and before noticing anything, the salarian stopped holding him and Daniel walked across the room on his own. He was happy, he was feeling the cold floor on one of his foot, the other one was cybernetic from past.

"I can walk! I can't believe it!" Daniel cheered, looking at the salarian doctor.

"That is not everything. Somebody outside wishes to see you." The doctor said and Daniel thought that Herald was waiting for him in there. Daniel dressed himself up, took a slow walk outside of the room but the surprise was even greater. There wasn't only Herald. Everyone was there, Shepard, Garrus, Liara, Tali, Thane, Kasumi, Jack, Samara and Legion with Daniel's Geth version. Each one of them wanted to see the result and it was worth it. Daniel didn't need a wheelchair. He was standing there, on his feet and he was feeling great.

EPILOGUE: Garrus Vakarian's POV

That day when Daniel was released from the hospital, we organized small party down in the Purgatory. Tried not to forget about some friends from the Alliance such as Cortez or Joker to join us. After the party ended, we split up, some of us travelled on the other end of the galaxy, some of us were just a few feet away from each other. Daniel managed to get through habilitation on the university so he could get back to his job as a professor. I wouldn't lie, I was horrible with sciences but sometimes even I came to listen to some of his lectures.

While the university was closed, Daniel and Herald travelled to Palaven to relax and I travelled there with Tali as well. Our lives may have seemed to be boring but it never gets boring when you have friends. What I saw and came across in Daniel's mind surely gave me lesson not to be frivolous but I think Daniel got some lesson as well and stopped taking everything too seriously. As I said, Daniel changed our lives in great way. At first it appeared that we only had another human on board of Normandy, but didn't know how things would turn.

I understood that my nightmares were all about that Daniel needed help, but what I didn't find out was why Daniel? I couldn't understand how everything from my nightmares matched to the reality because Daniel couldn't master telepathy or something. Maybe I wanted to help Daniel? Perhaps I liked that guy? Well, he was a good friend of mine but whatever. After travelling back in time, saving Daniel from suicide and getting in the darkest places of Daniel's mind, I stopped finding reason for what was happening to me.

Important for me was that Daniel was with us and all of us thought that what happened in such a short time was just a bad dream. Everything was so unbelievable that we were thinking that Daniel never killed himself. Sometimes we thought that he wasn't from 21. century and that he was living somewhere between people on the Citadel until Shepard found him. However, the war, the battles, all of it showed us it was real. I am Garrus Vakarian, and this is my last memory from our adventure with Daniel Husk.

THE END


End file.
